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.^'«  "''!.*"'*' X 


PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


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Purchased   by  the   Hamill   Missionary  Fund. 


Bv  ^vj.u  .C4  189  3 
Centenary  missionary 


^^^v^-n/^-^. 


CENTENARY^,. 


MISSIONARY  ADDRESSES. 


DELIVERED  AT  MISSIONARY   CONFERENCES    AND    ELSE- 
WHERE, UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE  AMER- 
ICAN BAPTIST  MISSIONARY  UNION, 
IN  THE  YEARS  1S92AND  1893. 


"  Christianity  is  missionary  if  it  is  anything." 

Dr.  John  A.  Broadus. 


PHILADELPHIA  : 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY, 

1420  Chestnut  Street. 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1893,  by  the 

AMERICAN  BAPTIST  PUBLICATION  SOCIETY, 

In  the  Office  of  tlie  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Introduction ^ 

I.  Christianity  Essentially  Missionary. 

JohnA.  Broadus,  D.  D.,  LL.D.        .        .        .11 

II.  The  Author  of  Missions. 

Rev.  W.  R.  L.  Smith,  D.  D 28 

III.  The  Horizon  op  Christ. 

Rev.  W.  H.  P.  Faunce, 36 

IV.  Motives  to  Missions  Among  the  Heathen. 

Henry  E.  Robins,  D.  D.,  LL.  D 46 

V.  The  Home  Relation  to  Foreign  Missions. 

Rev.  Philip  S.  Moxora,  D.  D.,  ...      57 

VI.  Hindrances  at  Home  to  the  Work  of  Foreign 
Missions. 
George  W.  Northrup,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,       .        .67 

VII.  The  Appropriate  Missionary  Giving. 

Rev.  C   H.  Moscrip,  D.  D.,        .        .        .        .89 

VIII.  The  Cultivation  of  Personal  Responsibility. 

Rev.  0.  P.  Eaches,  D.  D 99 

IX.  The  Sphere  of  a  Local  Church. 

Rev.  Lemuel  C.  Barnes, 112 


4  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

X.  Separated  for  Mission  Work. 

Augustus  H.  Strong,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,         .        .125 

XL  Endued  with  Power. 

Rev.  C.  J.  Baldwin,  D.  D 133 

XIT.  The  Cake  for  Gtod's  Prophet  First. 

Rev.  John  Humpstone,  D.  D.,  .        .        .     149 

XIII.  The  Impelt.ing  Vision. 

Rev.  Philip  L.  Jones, 160 

XIV.  To  Save  One  We  Must  Save  All. 

Lemuel  Moss,  D.  D.,  LL.  D.,     .        .        .        .173 

XV.  The  Influence  of  a  Century  of  Missions  on 
Christian  Theology. 
AlvahHovey,  D.  D.,  LL.  D 190    / 

XVI.  The  Enrichment  of  Christianity  Through  its 
Missions. 
Rev.  Frederick  L.  Anderson,  .        .        .201 

XVII.  The  Apostolic  Ambition. 

Rev.  A.  J.  Gordon,  D.  D 217 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  missionary  conferences  before  which  the  following 
selected  addresses  were  given  were  unique  meetings. 
They  originated  in  a  deep  conviction  that  if  missions  are 
to  be  genuinely  rather  than  perfunctorily  extended,  the 
biblical  and  spiritual  principles,  out  of  which  true  mis- 
sions spring,  must  be  freshly  and  repeatedly  studied. 

Though  much  employed  in  connection  with  the  late 
endeavors  of  the  Missionary  Union  to  enlarge  its  work 
and  increase  its  income,  these  conferences  sprang  from  no 
secondary  motive.  They  were,  primarily,  a  call  to  a 
renewed  study  of  the  spiritual  life  and  its  practical  corol- 
laries. They  afforded  also  an  opportunity  for  such  study 
and  prayer  as  are  impracticable  at  mere  anniversary 
meetings.  Such  study  and  prayer  we  hold  to  be  basal  to 
any  real  advance  in  the  method  of  extending  Christ's 
work  in  the  earth.  Any  attempt  to  deepen  missionary 
zeal  that  overlooks  the  essential  condition  of  a  deepened 
spirituality  must  ever  prove  abortive  and  futile. 

In  the  range  of  thought  and  principles  traversed  in 
these  numerous  meetings,  held  in  representative  sections 
of  the  country,  there  was,  of  course,  great  variety  of  ex- 
pression. One  ringing  keynote,  however,  characterized 
all  the  discussions.  The  keynote  which  prevailed  was 
this:  that  true  missions  involve  on  the  part  of  Christ's 
disciples  a  practical  incarnation  of  the  Christ  life  and 
Christ  teaching  among  peoples  historically  ignorant  of 

6 


6  INTRODUCTIOX. 

the  original  incarnation,  and  so  far  lost  to  its  reality, 
blessing,  and  power.  Such  a  re-incarnation  Paul  had  in 
mind  when  he  said,  "For  nie  to  live  is  Christ";!,  e., 
"  For  me  to  live  is  for  Christ  to  live."  It  is  not  enough 
for  the  missionary  to  bear  a  formal  system  of  truth,  how- 
ever divine,  to  the  heathen.  He  must  so  hold  and  carry 
that  truth  as  that  he  becomes  the  personal  embodiment 
of  it.    The  truth  thus  lives — the  Word  incarnate — in  him. 

Accordingly,  as  we  thus  conceive  of  missions,  our 
notion  of  three  things,  lying  at  the  root  of  all,  will  be 
vitally  affected  :  our  notion  of  motive  to  missions,  our  no- 
tion of  individual  consecration  to  missions,  and  our  notion 
of  the/orm  of  effort  in  which  missions  are  to  be  carried  on. 

Our  thought  of  the  motive  to  missions  will  be  modified. 
The  motive  to  missions  will  be  seen  to  be  interior  and 
vital,  instead  of  being  external  and  formal.  It  has  been 
common  to  speak  of  "  motives  to  missions  "  as  if  they 
were  several,  and  based  on  something  without  us. 
Advocates  are  wont  to  appeal  for  missions  on  various 
external  grounds  :  such  as  the  forlorn  state  of  the  heathen, 
their  ignorance,  their  poverty,  their  Avretchedness,  here 
and  hereafter,  etc.  These  considerations  are,  properly 
speaking,  not  motives  at  all,  but  rather  occasions,  in  view 
of  which  something  deeper,  and  within  the  soul,  acts. 
This  something,  Avhich  is  deeper,  is  motive.  Truly 
speaking,  the  real  motive  is  always  within  ;  so  within  as 
that  it  is  of  the  very  deepest  life  of  the  man.  The 
motive  thus  becomes  motor,  charged  with  the  very  life  of 
God.  It  acts  as  God  would  act,  and  for  the  same  reason, 
because  it  is  of  its  nature  bo  to  do.  It  exists  and  operates 
quite  independently  of  the  outward  conditions  of  men, 
just  as  Gpd's  love  does.      It  springs,  like  the  rays  of  the 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

snn,  from  deep  internal  fires.  It  runs  as  the  streams  run 
down  into  the  sea,  because  the  hidden  fountains  impel, 
and  because  the  moral  gravitation  of  the  spheres  induce. 
The  true  source  of  this  motive  in  the  missionary  is  the 
Christ  formed  within  him,  "  the  new  man,"  "  the  second 
Adam,"  "  the  Lord  from  heaven,"  who  is  conforming  the 
disciple  to  his  own  image,  and  thus  as  a  consequence 
reaching;  and  saving  mankind. 

Our  notion  of  individual  consecration  to  missions  will 
be  elevated,  in  the  light  of  our  conception  of  what  real 
missions  involve.  It  has  been  common  in  some  quarters 
to  speak  of  Christian  work  as  so  much  "  done  for  God," 
instead  of  so  much  work  "  icith  God,"  or  better  still,  as 
the  out- working  of  the  divine  life,  "  which  inwardly 
■worketh  itself  mightily  in  us."  ^  Christian  service  in- 
volves more  than  the  mere  conscious  labor  of  one  person- 
ality rendered  to  another — its  quality  and  value  deter- 
mined mainly  by  the  personal  force  of  the  individual. 
Such  a  conception  may  indeed  save  one's  metaphysics, 
but  at  the  expense  of  one's  Bible.  "  The  true  missionary 
— the  kind  whom  these  missionary  conferences  have 
sought  to  recuit — must  be  more  than  a  mere  agent  for 
God.  He  is  to  be,  in  some  profound  sense,  a  miniature 
reproduction  of  the  Christ ;  one  in  whom  Christ  is 
formed ;  one  who  can  say  with  the  apostle,  "  Alwavs 
bearing  about  in  the  body  the  dying  of  Jesus,  that 
the  life  also  of  Jesus"  (namely,  the  resurrection  life), 
"  may  be  manifested  in  our  body."  Thus  the  natural, 
metaphysical  personality  in  the  biblical  thought  is 
sunk  in  the  mystical  personality,  dual  indeed,  incident 
to  the  re-incarnation  of  the  Christ   in  the   missionary. 

1  Greek,  ivzpyiu>,  Col.  1  :  20;  Epli.  2:2;  1  Thess.  2  :  13. 


8  INTRODUCTION. 

Of  such    a  personality  mere  philosophy  may    take  no 
account,  but  of  this  the  New   Testament  takes  special 
account.     It  is,  perhaps,  Paul's  fundamental,  evangelical 
conception  that  the  old  ego  is  dead  and  buried,  and  then 
risen  again  in  a  new  ego.     It  is  the  essential  meaning  of 
baptism  on  the  subjective  side.     "  I  am  crucified  with 
Christ :  nevertheless  I  live ;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in 
me :  .  .  who  loved  me,  and  gave  himself  for  me."    It  is  this 
ego   who  is  the  essential  Christian ;  and  such  a  Christian 
is  always,  in  turn,  by  virtue  of  his  new  nature,  the  mis- 
sionary according  to  Christ.     With  this  conception  of  the 
missionary  in  mind,  he  -who  is  seen  by  the  church  going 
forth  on   his  perilous,  or  self-denying  Christ  errand,  is 
to  be  regarded,  to  all  intents  and  purposes,  as  the  Christ 
himself  on  his  own  continuous  mission  of  seeking  the 
lost.     "  He  that  heareth  you  heareth  me ;  and  he  that 
despiseth  you   despiseth  me ;  and  he  that  despiseth  me 
despiseth  Him  that  sent  me."    The  true  Christian,  or  the 
true  church,  will,  therefore,  no  more  think  of  being  indif- 
ferent to  the  welfare  of  the  missionary  than  he  would  be  to 
the  welfare  of  Christ  himself,  were  he  still  upon  the  earth. 
If  missions   are   thus  conceived  as  the  issue  of   the 
Christ  life  continually  re-incarnated  in  the  church,  our 
notion  of  the /orm  of  mission  effort  to  be  rendered  will  be 
correspondingly  transformed.     We  suspect  that  it  is  com- 
mon for  the  church  in  its  missioning  to  think  of  itself  as 
going  forth  to  gain  adherents,  to  recruit  communicants,  to 
augment  itself  and  thus  ultimately,  of  course,  to  enrich 
heaven.      It  is  possible  for  such  a  conception   uncon- 
sciously to   glide   into   a   refined    form   of  self  seeking. 
Such  propagation   of  Christianity  readily  becomes  mere 
propagaudism,  the  primary  aim  of  which  is  usually  to 


INTRODUCTION.  » 

get  rather  than  to  give.  Such  a  form  of  religion  thus 
becomes  an  end  to  itself.  This  is  one  of  the  cardinal 
errors  of  Rome,  which,  when  finished,  is  paganism  and 
idolatry.  Such  is  not  the  form  of  missions  after  Christ. 
The  essence  of  Christianity  is  grace — pure  giving — some- 
thing for  nothing.  God's  desire  for  this  lost  world  is 
that  he  may  gratuitously  impart  himself  to  it.  The 
Divine  love  is  but  the  infinite  yearning  of  God  to  impart 
his  own  form  of  blessed  living  to  his  rational  creatures. 
To  compass  this  it  stops  at  no  cost.  Hence  the  atone- 
ment— "  the  Lamb  slain  from  before  the  foundation  of 
the  world" — a  constitutional  expression  of  the  Divine 
nature  in  its  infinite  love  and  holiness  reaching  after  men  ; 
not  somethino;  done  "to  make  God  willing"  to  save. 
Hence,  also,  Christ's  characteristic  expression  of  himself, 
"  I  am  come  that  ye  might  have  life,  and  that  ye  might 
have  it  more  abundantly."  Hence,  also,  the  commission 
which  Christ  gave  to  the  twelve,  "  As  a  gift  (gratui- 
tously) ye  have  received,  as  a  gift  (gratuitously)  impart."  ^ 
That  is  to  say,  the  church  is  gratuitously  to  impart  the 
grace  and  life  Avhich  it  has  received  on  precisely  the  same 
principles  on  which  God  gratuitously  imparts  grace  and 
life  to  it.  The  missionary,  accordingly,  goes  to  the 
heathen  primarily  not  that  he  may  get,  but  that  he  may 
give.  He  goes  not  that  he  may  get  even  a  convert,  not 
that  he  may  win  a  church,  not  even  that  he  may  win 
trophies  for  Christ,  precious  as  all  these  are  ;  he  goes  that 
he  may  impart  his  own  spiritual  blessedness  to  others. 
He  is  not  fit  to  go,  nor  is  he  divinely  commissioned  to  go, 
until  he  has  this  blessedness  in  overflowing  measure  to 
impart.  He  goes  as  a  spiritual  capitalist,  with  measure- 
'Matt.  10  :  8;  Bible  Union  Version,  Imp.  Edition. 


10  INTRODUCTION. 

less  resources  within  and  behind  him  ;  resources  not  for 
investment  with  a  view  of  return  to  himself,  but  re- 
sources that  he  may  give  away  outright,  looking  for  no 
return  to  himself  except  such  as  God's  grace  may  be 
pleased  of  his  own  good  pleasure  to  bestow.  Trophies, 
indeed,  will  be  won,  compensations  will  come,  enrichment 
of  heaven  will  certainly  ensue  ;  but  all  these,  and  vastly 
more,  will  be  returned  into  the  bosom  of  the  missionary, 
incidentally  to  his  own  self-giving,  on  the  principle  of  the 
divine  paradox,  "  He  that  loseth  his  life,  the  same  shall 
save  it."  ("  Save  it  alive,"  "  Give  it  a  living  birth."  ^) 
The  more  the  missionary  imparts,  the  greater  will  his 
riches  become  with  which  to  continue  to  give ;  the  more 
he  loses  the  more  will  he  save  alive.  "  It  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive."  This,  the  crown  of  the  beati- 
tudes, is  his,  and  it  is  his  only,  who  has  entered  into  the 
experience  and  habit  of  the  Prince  of  givers. 

When  such  a  conception  of  missions  as  we  have  indi- 
cated shall  come  to  prevail  in  the  habitual  thought  and 
life  of  the  church,  how  different  will  be  her  working 
attitude  to  the  missions  of  the  world,  whether  near  or 
far  !  She  will  regard  them,  not  as  something  extraneous 
to  herself;  something  optional,  which  she  may  engage  in 
or  not  at  pleasure ;  not  as  a  mere  annex  to  her  working 
apparatus,  but  rather  as  something  constitutional  to  her 
very  life,  her  new  being,  as  they  are  constitutional  to  God 
himself,  and  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  Head  of  the  church,  and 
to  the  Holy  Ghost,  whose  indwelling  in  us,  as  in  a  living 
temple,  is  the  sole  efficiency  of  all  Christian  under- 
takings. HENR"y  C.  Mabie. 

Boston,  Sept.,  1898. 

1  Rotherham's  Version. 


CENTENARY  MISSIONARY  ADDRESSES. 


I. 

CHRISTIANITY  ESSENTIALLY  MISSIONARY.^ 

JOHN  A.  BROADUS,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Southern  Baptist  Theological  Seminary,  Louisville,  Ky. 

What  was  the  most  audacious  word  that  was  ever 
spoken  in  human  language  ?  Well,  I  think  it  was  when 
a  young  mechanic  from  an  obscure  village  in  an  out-of- 
the-way  and  despised  part  of  the  ancient  Roman  Empire, 
surrounded  by  a  company  of  followers,  with  a  small  inner 
circle,  after  a  few  years  of  wandering  about  that  little 
country  and  talking  to  people,  lifted  up  his  voice  and 
said  :  "  Go,  disciple  all  the  nations  to  me."  To  him — 
all  the  nations — it  would  have  been  out  of  all  question  ; 
but  you  will  please  remember  that  he,  whom  I  have 
spoken  of  with  such  terms  of  limitation,  had  not  long 
before  that  risen  from  the  dead,  as  he  had  predicted  he 
would  do,  and  not  long  after  that  was  to  rise  to  the  throne 
of  God.  He  was  a  missionary  himself.  He  was  the  first 
Christian  missionary.  God  sent  his  Son  into  the  world, 
not  to  judge  the  world,  but  that  the  world  through 
him,  might  be  saved.  He  was  sent.  He  was  a  missionary 
from  heaven  to  earth.  He  had  a  very  short  period  of 
labor — some  three  years,  more  or  less,  and  that  is  all. 

^  Printed  from  a  stenographic  report. 

11 


12  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

He  confined  it,  for  the  most  part,  to  the  little  country  in 
which  he  lived.  Yet  there  were  glimpses  of  something 
more.  The  only  occasions  I  remember  on  which  he 
expressed  especial  commendation  of  faith  were  when  he 
commended  the  faith  of  a  heathen  Roman  captain,  and 
said  :  "  I  have  not  found  so  great  faith,  no  not  in  Israel," 
and  when  on  another  occasion,  in  reference  to  a  heathen 
woman  in  Phoenicia,  he  said :  "  O  woman,  great  is  thy 
faith."  So  when,  two  or  three  days  before  the  end  of  his 
brief  career,  one  of  his  followers  came  to  him  and  told 
him  that  there  were  some  Greeks  who  wanted  to  see  him, 
he  said  :  "  I  .  .  .  will  draw  all  men  unto  me." 

He  sent  out  his  immediate  followers  on  a  brief  mission. 
Some  people  have  taken  the  instructions  of  that  mission 
and  have  applied  them  without  the  necessary  changes, 
without  the  changes  he  himself  distinctly  referred  to 
afterward,  as  if  they  were  the  law  for  all  missionary 
work ;  but  this  was  a  little  mission  of  a  few  brief  weeks. 
or  a  few  months,  in  the  little  district  where  they  lived, 
where  their  own  people  would  take  care  of  them.  He 
told  them  himself  before  the  end,  that  things  were  to  be 
otherwise  with  them.  He  sent  them  out  at  first  on  a 
brief  mission.  But  now — probably  it  was  when  the  five 
hundred  were  present,  though  we  are  not  sure  of  that — 
the  eleven  of  the  inner  circle  were  present  on  a  mountain 
in  Galilee,  and  he  said  :  "  Go !  Go  ! "  Before  that  he 
said  :  "  Go  not  unto  the  Gentiles."  Now  he  says  :  "  Go 
unto  all  the  world.  Go,  disciple  all  the  nations."  It  was 
a  missionary  business.  It  was  a  missionary  idea.  From 
the  beginning  it  has  been  missionary,  if  it  has  been  any- 
thing. And  very  soon  after  that  he  did  another  remark- 
able thing  about  it.    He  appeared  in  the  clouds  of  heaven, 


CHRISTIANITY    ESSENTIALLY    MIS-^IONARY.  13 

amid  a  great  light,  and  spoke  in  a  voice  which,  to  the  rest 
of  the  company,  was  but  a  strange  sound,  but  which 
entered  into  the  mind  and  soul  of  one  man  who  had  been 
the  leading  oppcser  and  persecutor  of  him  and  his  fol- 
lowers, persecuting  him  in  their  persons,  and  bade  him 
become  a  missionary,  chose  him  1o  be  the  leading  mis- 
sionary in  the  work  of  spreading  the  knowledge  of  him 
and. his  salvation. 

What  does  the  word  apostle  mean?  All  those  present 
who  have  dabbled  in  Greek  at  all  know  that  apostolos 
means  missionary.  That  was  the  very  idea  of  the  thing. 
He  names  them  missionaries.  We  make  a  distinction, 
but  the  distinction  is  not  there.  And  this  man  was  to  be 
the  head  missionary.  He  was  a  man  who  would  be  use- 
ful anywhere.  He  seems  to  us  peculiarly  suited  to  be 
useful  at  home.  Why,  when  the  Lord  appeared  to  him 
in  a  trance  in  the  temple,  and  said  :  "  Get  thee  hence," 
this  young  man,  though  he  had  never  been  wanting  in 
devotion,  remonstrated,  thought  he  knew  better.  You  say 
that  is  very  strange.  I  doubt  if  there  is  a  man  on  this 
platform  who  hasn't  had  more  or  less  of  just  the  same 
sort  of  experience.  Sometimes  the  Lord  seems,  by  his 
providence  and  by  inner  admonitions,  to  be  indicating  to 
a  man  that  he  ought  to  do  a  certain  thing,  and  yet  ho 
thinks  he  knows  best.  This  man,  in  his  trance,  said  : 
"  Lord,  I  am  the  very  man  to  stay  at  home.  They  know 
I  persecuted  thy  servants.  When  the  blood  of  thy  first 
martyr  was  shed,  I  was  standing  near  and  held  the  gar- 
ments. I  am  the  very  man.  When  I  come  to  them  they 
listen  to  me."  He  said  :  "  Hush  !  Get  out !  I  will  send 
thee  far  hence  to  the  heathen."  A  missionary,  yes,  a 
foreign  missionary,  a  missionary  to  the  heathen. 
2 


14  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

He  loved  his  own  people;  and  does  anybody  suppose 
that  a  missionary  doesn't  love  his  own  people?  Ask  one 
of  these  men  who  have  sorrowed  and  si2;lied  in  a  foreio;n 
land  for  the  sound  of  their  native  language  and  the  sight 
of  the  old  faces  they  loved  in  their  homes.  Ask  them  if 
they  don't  love  their  own  people.  That  isn't  what  it 
means.  He  loved  his  own  people,  went  to  his  own  people 
wherever  he  found  fhera  and  tried  to  do  them  good.  And 
still  he  was  a  foreign  missionary.  In  spite  of  all  this 
adaptation  to  stay  at  home  he  was  to  be  a  foreign  mission- 
ary. And  now  I  pray  you  to  note  this  :  That  as  a  foreign 
missionary,  Paul  the  apostle,  not  only  did  the  great  work 
we  know  he  accomplished  in  the  spread  of  the  gospel 
am<jng  those  who  were  heathen,  but  he  actually  did,  I  do 
believe,  far  more  for  his  own  people  than  he  could  have 
done  if  he  had  stayed  at  home  and  confined  his  labors  to 
them.  Dr.  Morehouse,  do  you  agree  with  me  ?  (Yes.)  As 
a  foreign  missionary  he  did  more  for  his  own  people,  the 
Jews,  than  if  he  had  stayed  at  home. 

The  case  is  not  singular.  It  brings  to  my  mind  imme- 
diately Adoniram  Judson.  I  never  think  of  him  without 
emotion.  I  remember  he  was  the  first  man  to  whom  I 
ever  made  a  gift  that  amounted  to  anything.  When  six- 
teen years  old,  as  assistant  in  a  school,  I  gave  a  dollar 
and  a  half  to  the  foreign  missionary  collection,  and 
thought  about  Judson  when  I  gave  it.  He  was  my  mis- 
sionary and  my  hero  in  those  days ;  and  I  remember 
when  the  preacher  came  and  ]n'eached  two  sermons  and 
turned  the  student  of  medicine  toward  the  idea  that  he 
would  have  to  give  it  up  and  be  a  minister,  the  passage 
that  moved  me  most  of  all  M-as  that  al)out  Judson.  If  he 
had  staved  at  home  he  would  have  been  a  very  useful 


CHRISTIANITY    ESSENTIALLY    MISSIONARY,  15 

Congregational  minister  somewhere  in  New  England,  in 
the  Old  South  Church  or  somewhere ;  or  a  very  useful 
professor  in  a  New  England  college,  but  I  never  should 
have  heard  of  him  in  my  youth.  Now,  Adoniram  Judson 
is  a  great  electric  liglit  that  shines  all  over  the  land,  and 
a  star  in  the  firmament  of  our  modern  Christianity  that 
shines  all  over  the  world.  How  much  more  he  has  done 
for  his  own  people  than  if  he  had  stayed  at  home.  Don't 
you  be  afraid  of  the  loss  that  will  come  to  our  own  Chris- 
tianity from  giving  up  the  choicest  of  our  young  men 
and  the  fairest  of  our  girls,  if  they  feel  moved  of  God  to 
go  hence  to  the  heathen.  The  Lord  knows  what  he  is 
about,  and  do  you  take  care  how  you  resist  the  leadings 
of  this  providence  and  the  leadings  of  this  faith,  for  self 
or  for  those  you  love. 

Christianity,  I  say,  was  missionary  from  the  start. 
That  is  the  very  idea  of  the  thing ;  that  is  the  genius  of 
the  machine.  It  wasn't  made  to  run  on  any  nairow 
gauge.  You  will  need  a  broad-gauge  track  for  it  to  run 
on.  It  M'asn't  made  to  be  run  on  any  narrow  principles. 
It  isn't  intended  that  it  should  run  around  in  a  circle,  and 
never  get  far  away  from  where  it  started.  Christianity  is 
missionary  if  it  is  anything. 

Wiiy  did  it  ever  cease  to  be  so  ?  Well,  for  a  long  time 
the  early  followers  of  the  Founder  of  Christianity  were 
missionaries.  What  devotion  they  showed  !  Nobody  to 
help  them.  The  government  all  against  them,  persecut- 
ing them  if  it  took  any  notice  of  them  at  all.  Again  and 
again  they  perished  by  hundreds  and  by  thousands.  Far 
and  wide  they  went  to  spread  Christianity,  and  all  the 
glory  of  its  early  history  was  its  missions  ;  and,  thank 
God,  that  earlv  movement  did  not  cease  till  missionaries 


16  CENTENARY    MISSIOXARY    ADDRESSES. 

from  Greece  or  missionaries  from  Italy  reached  your  an- 
cestors or  mine,  who  were  downright  heatiien.  And  while 
they  had  some  good  qualities, — these  Germans,  and  most 
of  us  are  descended  from  that  race, — while  they  had  some 
very  noble  qualities,  as  Tacitus  describes  and  Csesar 
mentions,  yet  they  were  heathen,  real  pagans.  If  it 
hadn't  been  for  some  people  in  Greece  and  Italy  who 
believed  it  was  worth  while  to  carry  the  gospel  to  the 
heathen,  what  would  have  become  of  all  our  European 
and  American  civilization  ?  What  would  have  come  to 
you  and  me?  Those  people,  thank  God,  believed  in 
carrying  the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  Those  people,  thank 
God,  didn't  give  up  if  some  of  them  were  killed.  They 
kept  on  until  they  won  our  ancestors  as  triumphs  of  mis- 
sionary work. 

What  made  the  thing  gradually  wear  out?  Well,  it 
was  this  way.  They  Avouldn't  let  Christianity  stay  in  its 
primitive  simplicity  as  a  movement  for  preaching  to  indi- 
viduals, regenerating  them,  winning  them  by  teaching, 
public  and  private,  and  by  example  and  personal  influ- 
ence. They  became  dissatisfied  with  that.  This  Christi- 
anity carried  its  missionary  labors  over  to  a  place  where 
there  arose  in  the  Roman  Empire  a  very  skillful  politi- 
cian indeed,  who  thought  it  would  be  a  good  plan  to  take 
the  new  religion  and  make  it  a  plank  in  his  political 
platform.  His  name  Mas  Constantine.  He  made  it  a 
plank  in  his  platform  and  he  triumphed  with  it.  He 
undertook  to  patronize  Christianity,  and  though  Chris- 
tianity could  get  along  with  all  the  opposition  of  politics, 
somehow  it  didn't  get  along  with  the  friendship  of  poli- 
ticians ;  and  I  don't  know  but  that  it  has  sometimes 
happened  over  here,  right  here,  that  where  religion  and 


CHRISTIANITY    ESSENTIALLY    MIS5I0XARY.  17 

politics  go  hand  in  hand,  politics  is  mighty  apt  to  get  the 
upper  hand.  It  was  so  then.  They  Judaized  Chris- 
tianity and  they  Romanized  Christianity,  and  that  took 
t*-  f  foreign  missionary  element  largely  out  of  it.  They 
.  claized  Chrir^tianity  by  introduchig  the  idea  of  conse- 
crated houses  and  sacrifices,  and  all  splendid  ceremonies 
that  had  religious  power.  They  brought  in  the  notion 
that  the  two  ceremonies  of  the  Christian  religion  which 
had  the  minimum  of  ceremony,  were  both  of  them  to 
have  some  strange,  mystical  nature,  by  which  people  were 
to  be  regenerated  by  the  first  ceremony,  and  people  were 
afterward  to  be  saved  by  the  second.  That  was  Judaizing 
Christianity ;  it  was  taking  away  the  idea  of  appealing 
by  instruction,  appealing  to  the  mind  and  conscience,  and 
substittiting  an  appeal  by  ceremonies  and  sacred  externals 
and  all  that  sort  of  tiling. 

And  then  the  other  thing  was  Romanizing  Christianity. 
The  Romans  had  such  a  genius  for  government  that  they 
were  not  only  the  greatest  of  the  ancient  empires  that 
lasted  the  longest  and  ruled  the  most  powerfully,  but 
when  they  got  hold  of  Christianity  they  infused  their  ge- 
nius tor  government  into  the  organization  of  Christianity, 
that  lasts  to  this  day  as  the  wonder  of  this  world.  But 
it  wasn't  primitive  Christianity.  It  was  the  idea  that 
you  have  got  to  rule  over  people  to  make  Christians  of 
them ;  you  have  got  to  organize  and  govern  and  make 
them  Christians;  and  if  they  won't,  you  will  make  them 
suffer  for  it,  if  they  won't  be  Christians  and  be  the  kind 
of  Christians  you  want  them  to  be.  All  done  by  a  grand, 
centralized  Roman  organization,  and  the  genius  of 
Christianity  forgotten.  And  so  it  went  on  for  many 
centuries,  this  sorrowful  history  ;  bitt  it  seems  to  me  that 


18  CENTEXARY    MISSIONARY    ADDUE-SES. 

is  the  history  of  the  whole  matter.  That  is  the  way  the 
foreign  missionary  idea  disappeared.  Men  undertook, 
century  after  century,  more  or  less,  some  work  in  the 
countries  around  these  Romans,  but  it  never  accomplished 
very  much.  Or  the  Jesuits,  organized  particularly  for 
that  purpose,  did  wonders,  prodigies  of  magnificent 
devotion,  for  which  they  deserve  all  eulogy  and  honor. 
But  then,  when  they  got  to  China  and  got  to  Japan,  it 
was  to  make  Christians  of  the  heathen  by  a  cer-emony 
and  then  to  keep  them  Christians  by  another  ceremony, 
and  that  wasn't  Christianity.  No  wond?r  they  left  such 
a  bad  name  in  China  and  Japan  that  when  the  enemies 
of  Christianity  in  tliose  countries  want  to  talk  against 
your  missionaries,  the  worst  thing  they  can  say  is  :  ''  Don't 
yon  believe  that  these  missionaries  are  different  from 
those  that  came  here  three  centuries  ago."  That  is  the 
worst  thing  they  can  say  against  the  missionaries  to-day ; 
and  yet  the  men  who  did  it  were  men  of  noble  devotion. 

And  now,  Avliat  has  caused  the  difference?  Well,  I 
think  the  reason  why  in  the  last  one  hundred  years,  amid 
a  thousand  imperfections  and  ten  thousand  shortcomings, 
the  reason  why  things  are  becoming  better  and  looking 
really  hopeful  is  that  there  is  something  like  a  return  to 
the  idea  of  the  original  Christianity,  to  the  notion  that 
you  have  got  to  make  Christians  of  people,  not  by  force, 
but  by  instruction,  by  jjersuasion  and  conviction,  by  in- 
fluence and  example ;  making  Christians  of  individual 
people  who  can  think  and  understand  you,  not  by  cere- 
monies, not  by  compulsions,  but  just  in  the  old-fashioned, 
original  way. 

And  that  is  true  not  alone  of  the  little  handful  of  de- 
si>ised  people  in  England  a  hundred  years  ago — you  dou^t 


CHRISTIANITY    ESSENTIALLY    MISSIONARY.  19 

know  how  they  do  despise  Ihem  there.  I  don't  know  but 
wiiat  I  will  tell  you  a  story.  I  remember  twenty  years 
ago  being  the  guest  of  a  London  merchant  at  his  resi- 
dence in  the  country.  He  told  me  Avith  some  pride  that 
he  was  lord  of  the  manor.  The  Englishman  likes  to  be 
lord  of  anything.  We  were  playing  croquet,  the  ladies, 
ray  companions,  himself  and  some  others,  and  the  wife 
came  out  and  sat  on  the  rustic  seat,  and  in  an  interval  of 
the  game  I  sat  by  her  side  and  took  up  her  book.  It 
was  a  German  book.  She  said  she  had  brought  over  a 
teacher  from  Hanover,  and  was  learning  German.  It 
was  Schiller,  and  I  turned  over  the  pages  pointing  out 
some  of  the  poems  I  admired.  She  said  innocently  after- 
Mard  to  one  of  the  young  ladies  :  "  This  gentleman  is  a 
Baptist  preacher.  What,  a  Baptist  preacher  know  Ger- 
man ?  Why,  I  thought  they  were  all  shoemakers  or 
blacksmiths." 

The  name  we  honor  to-night  was  that  of  a  shoemaker ; 
he  called  himself  a  cobbler.  They  were  a  handful  of  de- 
spised people,  but  they  all  took  hold.  It  seems  to  you 
and  to  me  that  they  had  put  Christianity  on  its  original 
foundation,  and  went  at  the  thing  in  that  way ;  and  then 
a  great  many  other  good  people  who  brought  over  to 
America  the  traditions  of  the  English  establishment,  of 
the  Scottish  establishment,  or  who  spread  in  America  the 
traditions  of  another  establishment  in  the  most  celebrated 
part  of  our  country,  have  gradually  taken  up  many  of 
those  same  ideas ;  they  seem  to  have  gone  about  trying 
to  convert  people  as  individuals,  preaching  to  them,  and 
instructing  them,  and  praying  f  )r  them  until  they  have 
done  an  amount  of  work  in  foreign  missions  which  ous-ht 
to  stir  us.     All  honor  to  the  missionarv  work  of    the 


20  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

Congregationalists,  the  Methodists,  the  Episcopalians,  and 
others.  But  I  do  think  they  have  been  useful  just  in 
proportion  as  they  have  returned,  more  or  less  consciously 
returned,  to  the  same  primitive  views  of  Christianity  and 
kind  of  work  that  were  followed  by  the  little  despised 
handful  in  England  a  hundred  years  ago. 

And  now  I  want  to  say  this  about  it.  It  was  the 
thought  that  occurred  to  me  when  1  was  asked  to  be  here, 
and  after  saying  that  I  could  not  come,  could  not  tear 
myself  away  from  busy  work, — then,  looking  at  the  list 
of  engagements  at  home,  found  it  was  possible  to  stand 
in  this  pulpit  once  more.  It  w^as  this  thought  that 
occurred  to  me.  It  was  the  English  Baptists  who  started 
this  idea  of  the  centennial  observance,  and  then  some 
Americans  got  hold  of  it ;  and  now,  in  all  parts,  wherever 
there  are  any  Baptists,  they  are  working  at  this  thing. 
I  don't  think  we  need  to  woriy  ourselves  about  organic 
unity ;  let  Providence  take  care  of  that.  We  are  Bap- 
tists together.  I  believe  that  means  that  we  are  trying 
to  illustrate  and  retain  original  Christianity  ;  the  idea 
that  men  are  to  be  made  Christians  by  conversion  and 
not  by  baptizing  them,  and  that  people  are  to  be  kept 
Christians  by  instructing  them  in  the  truth  and  not  by 
ceremonies.  We  are  Baptists  because  we  think  that  is 
the  genius  of  Christianity,  and  we  are  trying  to  maintain 
it ;  and  I  call  upon  all  of  you  who  are  here  to-night : 
Be  glad  if,  in  the  providence  of  God,  you  have  been  led 
to  be  Baptists,  and  try  to  see  more  clearly  than  ever 
before,  how  in  the  New  Testament  the  very  idea  of 
Christianity  is  set  forth,  try  to  get  all  these  original, 
primitive  conceptions  of  Christianity.  Then,  mark  you, 
don't    get   fussing   about    returning   to   the   New   Tes- 


CHRISTIANITY    ESSENTIALLY   MISSIONARY.  21 

lament  ideas  of  ordination  and  church  government,  and 
stop  there,  and  fail  to  return  to  New  Testament  ideas  of 
missions.  The  Baptist  who  stands  up  for  believers'  bap- 
tism, and  for  the  independence  of  the  churches  and  all 
those  things,  which  I  believe  in,  and  then  isn't  liearty  in 
the  work  of  missions — well,  the  fact  is,  he  is  no  Baptist 
at  all.  He  doesn't  deserve  to  call  himself  that.  Let 
him  2:0  to  readino;  his  New  Testament  over  ao-iin. 

And  I, — who  live  far  away  from  here,  yet  feel  somehow 
curiously  at  home  in  this  very  place,  and  look  around  on 
many  faces  of  those  I  honor  and  love, — I  come  from 
what  everybody  knows  is  the  portion  of  the  country 
where  we  have  lots  of  Baptists,  and  can't  get  much  out 
of  them,  but  have  grand  expectations  for  them  in  the 
future.  Now,  I  say  here  to-night,  let  us  American  Bap- 
tists, and  English  Baptists,  and  all  Baptists,  make  this 
centennial  celebration  the  occasion  of  realizing  that  we 
are  all  Baptists  together  ;  Baptists  joined  together  by  com- 
mon ideas  and  a  grand  common  work,  as  brethren  in  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

And  so,  what  is  the  spirit  of  the  whole  matter  from  my 
point  of  view  ?  That  Christianity  is  missionary,  or  it  is 
nothing  at  all ;  that  Christian  people  who  are  not  mission- 
ary lack  one  of  the  original,  fundamental,  essential,  indis- 
pensable elements  of  genuine  Christianity.  Did  you  ever 
know  any  ofthose  Baptists  they  call  "Hard  Shells"?  They 
are  the  delight  of  the  newspapers,  yon  know ;  they  can  get 
so  many  jokes  about  the  "  hard  shell."  I  have  known  some 
of  those  people,  some  of  them  intimately,  who  were,  from 
their  point  of  view,  as  deeply  devout  in  their  feelings,  as 
honestly  trying  to  serve  God,  in  their  way,  as  any  people 
I  ever  knew  or  expect  to  know.     But  they  had  got  hold 


22  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

of  one  side  of  Christianity,  and  because  they  couldn't 
reconcile  with  it  the  other  side,  its  world-wide  invitations 
to  everybody  and  the  duty  of  sending  invitations  to  any- 
body, they  stayed  on  their  side  and  tried  to  live  consist- 
ently according  to  their  conviction ;  and  the  result  has 
been  that  slowly,  slowly  they  disappeared,  until  they 
hardly  live  at  all  now  except  to  be  the  joke  of  the  news- 
papers. Though  they  were  dead  in  earnest,  they  had  a 
one-sided  Christianity,  a  half-way  Christianity,  and  it 
was  bound  to  decay  ;  and  our  Christianity  will  flourish 
just  in  proportion  as  it  is  missionary,  in  proportion  as  we 
are  interested  in  the  great  missionary  idea,  which  is  as 
wide  as  the  world  or  it  is  nothing.  Just  in  proportion  as 
we  are  working  for  the  salvation  of  mankind,  with  gen- 
uine interest,  with  hearty  effort,  with  true  sacrifice,  just 
in  that  proportion  everything  that  is  nearer  to  us  will 
flourish  also. 

But  didn't  the  Saviour  say,  "  beginning  at  Jerusalem  "  ? 
Repentance  and  remission  of  sins  should  be  preached,  be- 
ginning at  Jerusalem.  And  doesn't  that  mean  that  I 
ought  to  begin  at  Louisville,  and  you  ought  to  begin  at 
Boston,  and  these  ought  to  begin  at  Brooklyn  and  New 
York,  and  some  other  people  ought  to  begin  at  Smoke- 
town,  and  everybody  should  begin  at  his  home  and  work, 
and  work  out  in  widening  circles?  I  trow  not,  because 
not  one  of  these  eleven  lived  at  Jerusalem.  It  didn't 
mean  they  should  begin  at  home — their  home  wasn't  at 
Jerusalem.  They  would  have  to  begin  in  various  parts 
of  Judea.  There  was  only  one  who  lived  anywhere  near 
Jerusalem,  and  he  was  Judas,  the  traitor.  Why  should 
they  begin  at  Jerusalem  ?  Because  at  Jerusalem  the 
great  events  of  the  Christian  religion  had  taken  place. 


CHRISTIANITY    ESSENTIALLY    MISSIONARY.  23 

and  if  they  hadn't  made  some  converts  at  Jerusalem,  they 
couldn't  have  gone  to  foreign  parts  and  expected  people 
there  to  believe  these  events  at  Jerusalem  if  nobody  there 
believed  in  them.  That  is  one  reason  why  they  should 
make  some  converts  there.  But  a  more  important  reason  : 
They  should  begin  at  Jerusalem  because  Christianity  was 
the  offshoot  of  the  old  religion  of  Israel,  and  Christiani- 
ty's offers  were  to  be  made  first  to  Israel.  It  was  the 
privilege  of  the  chosen  people,  the  one  remaining  privi- 
lege,—  all  their  forfeited  privileges  passed  away, — that 
Christianity  should  be  the  power  of  God  unto  salvation, 
as  Paul,  the  foreign  missionary,  said,  "  to  the  Jew  first." 
Beginning  at  Jerusalem  means  beginning  at  the  Jews, 
and  didn't  mean  beginning  at  Smoketown  or  at  Brooklyn. 
If  you  want  to  make  Christianity  flourish,  take  hold 
of  it  according  to  the  largeness  of  its  true  conception. 
Interest  yourself  and  your  children  and  your  church  in 
;  saving  the  people  on  the  other  side  of  the  round  Avorld 
and  then  you  can  get  them  to  take  hold  of  things  near 
home.  That  is  history ;  that  is  not  speculation.  That  is 
history,  that  is  experience,  and  everybody  that  will  try  it 
will  find  it  is  so  more  and  more.  You  remember  how 
Archimedes  said  when  he  was  finding  out  the  wonderful 
powers  of  the  lever :  "  Give  me  a  place  to  stand  on,  and 
^with  a  lever  I  will  move  the  world."  Oh,  men  and 
^women,  foreign  missions  are  the  place  to  stand  on  for 
'Christianity  to  do  its  work  for  the  human  race.  Get  your 
churcli  practically  interested  in  foreign  missions,  so  that  the 
members  will  pray  for  foreign  missions  in  their  prayer  meet- 
ings, and  give  to  foreign  missions  with  great  delight,  and 
then  when  the  home  missionary  secretary  appeals  to  them, 
he  will  say  :  "  Now  that  you  haye  done  some  part  of  3'our 


24  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

duty  in  sending  it  to  the  Chinese,  you  will  do  something 
for  the  heathen  nearer  home."  He  couldn't  possibly  be 
[  in  a  better  position  to  reach  them  than  just  that.  Get 
your  people  to  give  to  foreign  missions  and  pray  for 
foreign  missions  and  be  willing  to  let  their  own  sons  and 
daughters,  God  bless  them,  go  to  the  heathen,  if  they  are 
called,  and  then  your  people  will  be  willing  to  help  t)ur 
educational  enterprises,  and  our  publication  enterprises, 
and  everything  we  ought  to  do  nearer  home.  It  is  the 
place  to  stand  your  lever  on  to  move  the  whole  business. 
And  now  I  have  just  four  things  to  add.  The  Founder 
of  Christianity  said, — it  is  the  only  time  that  I  remember 
his  urging  people  to  pray  for  a  particular  object;  he 
often  encouraged  his  followers  to  pray,  but  I  do  not 
recollect  that  ever,  except  in  that  ca~e,  he  named  a 
particular  object  of  prayer : — "  The  harvest  truly  is 
plenteous,  but  the  laborers  are  few.  Pray  ye  therefore 
the  Lord  of  the  harvest,  that  he  will  send  forth  laborers 
into  his  harvest."  Oh  !  isn't  it  strange,  that  the  only 
special  subject  of  prayer  that  he  named,  as  far  as  I  can 
recollect,  at  least,  is  so  seldom  heard  in  our  pulpits? 
Well,  that  is  the  way  it  is  where  I  live, — I  don't  know, 
maybe  it  is  otherwise  here, — so  seldom  heard  in  our 
Sunday  devotion,  so  seldom  heard  in  our  Sunday-school 
classes,  so  seldom  heard  in  our  prayer  meetings,  so  seldom 
in  our  family  worship,  in  our  private  devotion.  Oh ! 
men  and  women,  let  us  turn  over  a  new  leaf  about  that. 
Turn  it  over.  Now,  over  it  goes  !  Over  now  !  Now, 
begin  again.  Paste  that  leaf  down ;  it  isn't  pleasant  to 
look  at.  The  Saviour  said  :  "  Pray  ye  the  Lord  of  the 
harvest  that  he  will  send  forth  laborers  into  his  harvest." 
I  live  among  young  ministers.     I  have  some  occasion  to 


CHEISTIANITY   ESSENTIALLY   MISSIONAEY.  25 

feel  sympathy  for  them  and  know  something  about  their 
trials,  besides  having  possibly  recollections  that  are 
personal ;  and  I  tell  you  there  is  great  need  for  special 
prayer,  for  special  blessing  of  the  Spirit  of  God  upon 
young  men  who  ought  to  be  ministers.  A  great  many  ob- 
stacles are  in  their  "way,  a  great  many  temptations,  a  great 
many  discouragements.  Look  at  the  sacrifices  that  many 
a  young  fellow  has  to  make.  He  has  dreamed  a  dream 
of  ambition,  and  he  has  got  to  give  it  all  up  and  consent 
to  choke  it  all  down ;  and  he  leaves  his  own  people,  and 
he  is  thinking  now  whether  it  isn't  his  duty  to  leave  the 
land  he  loved  so  well,  and  he  doesn't  know — Oh  !  he 
doesn't  know  whether  Miss  Lucy  at  home  will  be  willing 
to  go  with  him.  Poor  fellow  !  Now  don't  smile  at 
him  overmuch,  because  it  is  a  reality.  He  has  got  these 
things  to  think  about,  and  then  it  is  so  easy  for  him  to 
say, — we  all  get  up  a  great  deal  of  mock  modesty  when 
we  don't  Avaut  to  do  something, — "  Oh !  well,  if  I 
were  a  better  Christian ;  I  feel  so  unworthy."  That  is 
just  an  excuse  for  not  doing  your  duty  half  the  time,  and 
most  of  the  other  half.  It  is  so  easy  for  the  young 
fellow  to  say :  "  I  am  afraid  I  haven't  enough  strength 
of  character ;  I  am  not  good  enough  to  be  a  foreign  mis- 
sionary." No,  don't  laugh  at  him.  Pray  for  him. 
Pray  that  the  Spirit  of  God  will  make  things  clear  to  his 
mind.  And  God  be  thanked  that  a  man  can  see  his 
duty  after  struggles,  it  may  be,  and  darkness ;  a  man  can 
see  the  path  of  duty  open  before  him,  and  seem  to  hear  the 
voice  saying  :  "  This  is  the  way.  Walk  ye  in  it."  God 
be  thanked,  a  man  can  come  to  see  his  duty.  Pray  for 
your  young  men,  that  they  may  come  to  see  their  duty  in 
the  work  of  putting  laborers  at  home  and  abroad  in  this 

3 


26  ■     CESTENAPwY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

harvest  that  still  waves  over  all  the  earth,  and  still  the 
laborers  are  few. 

And  then,  if  we  pray  in  that  way,  we  ought  to  be  doing 
something,  we  ought  to  be  glad  to  encourage  what  we 
think ;  if  they  give  us  the  opportunity,  we  ought  to  be 
glad  to  support  them.  You  have  heard  the  saying,  '•  We 
will  go  down  into  the  mine,  biityou  must  hold  the  rope." 
Let  us,  as  pastors  and  as  people,  look  to  our  end  of  the 
rope.  It  is  pretty  hard  on  these  young  fellows  if  one 
not  only  has  to  decide  to  make  all  the  personal  sacrifices 
that  are  necessary  to  go  ;  but  then  the  Missionary  Board 
is  in  debt  every  year  and  it  don't  know  whether  it  can 
send  him.  What  a  difficulty  he  is  in.  Look  out  for 
yottr  end  of  the  rope  while  yoti  pray  that  many  may  be 
called  into  the  ministry  of  the  gospel  and  into  the  work 
of  missions. 

And  the  other  two  things.  Jesus  said^ — I  always  stop 
there  and  ponder, — "  Other  men  labored  and  ye  are 
entered  into  their  labors."  Ah  !  a  great  part  of  the  joy 
of  this  work  of  spreading  Christianity  has  come  from 
what  the  men  of  the  past  have  sown.  We  sow,  blessed 
be  God,  what  the  men  of  the  future  shall  gather.  We 
don't  stand  alone  in  this  world.  We  are  part  of  a  great 
host  that  has  come  out  of  the  j^ast  and  is  moving  now 
into  the  future,  but  it  is  God's  work  and  it  is  going  to 
succeed  sooner  or  later.  What  a  comfort  it  is  to  a  man 
when  he  can  be  satisfied  that  his  work  is  bound  to  suc- 
ceed. That  his  work  is  bound  to  succeed  !  Bound  to 
succeed,  or  the  pillars  of  heaven  would  fitll !  Bound  to 
succeed,  or  the  word  of  the  Eternal  Avould  be  forfeited  ! 
A  work,  as  Judson  said,  that  is  as  sure  as  the  promises 
of  God. 


CHRISTIANITY   ESSENTIALLY   MISSIONARY.  27 

When  Jesiis  said :  "  Go,  disciple  all  the  nations,"  he 
added,  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the  days.'"  That  is  what 
it  means.  "  Alway  "  isn't  strong  enough.  It  is  emphat- 
ically, "  all  the  days."  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  all  the  days, 
unto  the  end  of  the  world."  He  promised  that  he  would 
be  with  his  people  in  carrying  out  his  great  command, 
that  he  would  be  with  them  all  the  days,  through  all 
generations  and  all  centuries,  and  with  each  of  them  all 
the  days  of  his  life.  Oh,  my  brother,  yes,  we  shall  be 
far  apart  before  long,  but  he  will  be  with  you  and  he  will 
be  with  me.  He  will  be  with  you.  We  are  growing 
old ;  he  will  be  with  us  as  long  as  our  days  shall  last. 
He  will  be  with  you  who  are  young  all  the  days  of  your 
life,  if  they  are  days  spent  in  carrying  out  this,  his  great 
commandment.  In  days  of  joys  and  days  of  sorrow,  in 
days  of  sickness  and  health,  in  the  days  of  discourage- 
ment and  in  the  days  of  high  hope  and  rejoicing  and 
gratitude.  Oh,  pastor,  when  you  step  across  the  threshold 
of  some  home  of  poverty  and  sickness,  try  to  see  how  the 
shadowy  form  and  the  kindly  face  steps  across  with  you. 
Oh,  missionary,  when  you  stand  to  preach  in  a  strange 
language,  so  far  from  the  home  you  love,  so  far  from 
those  loved  ones  you  would  so  like  to  see  again,  try  and 
think  that  he  who  sent  you  is  with  you  there  and  will  be 
with  you  all  the  days,  all  the  days. 


II. 

THE  AUTHOR  OF  MISSIONS. 

KEY.  W.  R.  L.  SMITH,  D,  D., 

St.  Louis,  Mo. 

One  of  the  most  remarkable  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  kingdom  of  God  is  the  thirty  years  immediately 
following  the  ascension  of  our  Lord.  During  that  time 
the  gospel  was  preached  among  the  leading  nations  and 
in  the  great  centres  of  civilization.  The  middle  wall  of 
partition,  that  for  long  centuries  had  divided  Jew  and 
Gentile,  was  broken  down ;  and  the  body  of  the  New 
Testament  Scriptures  was  almost  completed.  These 
achievements  are  marvelous  in  our  eyes.  They  changed 
the  currents  of  the  world's  history.  Who  originated  and 
consummated  this  work  ?  To  whom  does  the  credit  of 
the  mighty  spiritual  movement  belong?  Not  to  Peter 
and  Paul.  Neither  wanted  to  do  what  he  did.  As  well 
might  Ave  ascribe  the  sjilendid  edifice  to  the  agency  of  the 
trowel,  the  hammer,  and  the  saw. 

Those  are  significant  words  at  the  beginning  of  the 
Acts.  Luke  says  that  in  a  former  treatise  he  recounted 
the  things  that  Jesus  began  to  do  and  to  teach.  The  im- 
plication is  that  in  the  present  treatise  he  will  narrate 
what  Jesus  continued  to  do.  Ten  days  after  the  ascension 
the  thrilling  scenes  of  Pentecost  are  enacted.  Peter  rises 
to  explain.  The  Lord  has  received  the  promise  of  the 
Fatlier,  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  through  him  these  august 
events  have  been  wrought.  Until  Jesus  comes  again,  the 
28 


THE   AUTHOR   OF   MIS-IOXS.  29 

Holy  Spirit  is  to  be  his  representative.  Not  unto 
apostles,  then,  but  unto  the  Holy  Spirit  belongs  the 
honor.  Such  is  the  uniform  testimony  of  all  the  holy 
meu  who  participated  in  the  work  of  the  thirty  eventful 
years.  The  Acts  of  the  Apostles  are  more  truly  the  acts 
of  the  divine  Spirit, 

His  authorship  is  expressed  in  the  fact  that  he  was  the 
enabling  energy  of  the  human  workers  employed. 

1.  He  gave  them  power.  Our  Saviour  made  himself 
like  unto  his  brethren  in  becoming  absolutely  dependent 
on  the  Spirit.  To  Cornelius,  Peter  testified,  "  that  God 
anointed  Jesus  of  Nazareth  with  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
with  power."  To  this  divine  equipment,  Jesus  directed 
the  minds  of  the  apostles,  when  he  said  :  "  Ye  shall  re- 
ceive power  after  that. the  Holy  Spirit  is  come  upon  you, 
and  ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me  both  in  Jerusalem,  and 
in  all  Judea  .  .  .  and  unto  the  uttermost  part  of  the 
earth."  It  is  noteworthy  that  the  men  who  did  most  for 
Christ  were  said  to  be  filled  with  this  power.  What  was 
the  object  of  this  anointing?  Not  regeneration,  nor  com- 
fort, nor  even  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit.  David  and  Sam- 
uel had  these,  as  did  also  John  the  Baptist.  It  was  for 
service.  The  time  had  come  when,  at  vast  expense  of 
labor,  self-denial,  and  suffering,  a  new  message  from  God 
was  to  be  carried  to  earth's  remotest  bounds.  The  work 
calls  for  uncommon  qualification.  The  Avitnesses  will 
need  clear  conceptions,  strong  conviction^,  undaunted 
courage,  and  irrepressible  enthusiasm. 

2.  He  bestows  special  guidance  and  direction.  The 
witnesses  are  not  to  be  left  to  their  own  judgment  and 
self-determination.  To  Philip,  he  said:  "Go,  join  thy- 
self to  this  chariot ; "  and  afterward,  by  the  same  Spirit, 


30  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

he  was  caught  away.  "  Three  men  seek  thee ;  go  with 
them  doubting  nothing/'  was  his  explicit  command  to 
Peter  at  Joppa.  To  the  church  at  Antioch,  he  said : 
"  Separate  me,  Barnabas  and  Saul,  for  the  work  where- 
unto  I  have  called  them."  The  church  sent  them  not ; 
the  Spirit  called  them  and  appointed  their  field.  On  his 
second  missionary  journey  Paul  wished  to  preach  the 
gospel  in  Asia.  The  Spirit  forbade.  Then  he  essayed 
to  go  into  Bithynia,  and  again  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  suf- 
fered him  not.  Pressing  on  westward  he  came  to  Troas, 
wliere,  in  a  vision  of  a  man  of  Macedonia,  he  heard  the 
words :  "  Come  over  and  help  us."  Burdened  servants 
of  God,  charged  with  great  missionary  operations,  find 
comfort  in  the  fact  of  his  abiding  presence  and  directing 
grace. 

3.  His  co-operation  is  as  freely  bestowed.  His  own 
testimony  is  superadded  to  that  of  the  human  witnesses. 
On  his  second  trial  before  the  Jewish  council,  Peter  said  : 
"  The  God  of  our  fathers  raised  up  Jesus,  whom  ye  slew, 
hangino;  him  on  a  tree.  Him  did  God  exalt  with  his 
right  hand  to  be  a  prince  and  a  Saviour,  for  to  give  re- 
pentance to  Israel  and  remission  of  sins.  And  we  are  wit- 
nesses of  these  things ;  and  so  is  the  Holy  Spirit,  whom 
God  hath  given  to  them  that  obey  him."  (Rev.  Ver.) 
Years  later,  in  the  first  Christian  council,  it  was  agreed 
not  to  burden  the  gentile  convert  with  the  ordinances  of 
Moses.  The  apostles  wu'ote  to  the  brethren  in  Antioch 
that  "  it  seemed  good  to  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  us  to  lay 
upon  you  no  greater  burden  than  these  necessary  things, 
that  ye  abstain  from  things  sacrificed  to  idols,  and  from 
blood,  and  from  things  strangled,  and  from  fornication." 
(Rev.  Ver.)     In  every  place  where  Christ  was  preached, 


THE  AUTHOR  OF  MISSIONS.  31 

there  was  the  Spirit  to  corroborate  and  establish.  "When 
difficult  questions,  involving  the  relations  of  law  and 
gospel  arose,  baffling  apostolic  wisdom,  he  brought  solu- 
tion and  deliverance.  His  authorship  is  demonstrated 
by  the  victories  won  by  the  church  over  its  enemies. 

He  delivered  it  from  the  dictation  of  tlie  Jewish  coun- 
cil. These  bloody  men  proposed  to  exclude  a  certain 
doctrine  of  the  apostles.  You  must  not  preach  in  this 
name.  Preach,  if  you  will,  but  omit  the  name  of  Jesus. 
The  issue  is  sharp  and  definite.  Never  were  the  rulers 
more  grim  and  resolute.  This  Galilean  ministry  is  daily 
in  the  temple  setting  on  them  the  brand  of  murder. 
Though  they  had  said  in  horrible  imprecation,  "  his 
blood  be  ou  us  and  on  our  children,"  they  are  maddened 
to  desperation  when  it  is  about  to  be  accomplished. 
Peter,  filled  with  the  Spirit,  greeted  their  fierce  look  and 
challenge  with  a  calm  dignity  and  steady  voice,  "  We 
must  obey  God  rather  than  man."  (Rev.  Ver.)  That 
was  the  declaration  of  independence.  Peter  put  the 
M'hole  world  in  his  debt  by  this  bold  annouEcement  of 
the  doctrine  of  religious  liberty.  Henceforth,  the 
apostles  are  the  leaders  of  Israel. 

By  the  same  power  they  were  delivered  from  the  domi- 
nation of  the  State.  King  Herod  stretched  forth  his  hand 
and  slew  James.  This  brutal  assault  was  doubtless  en- 
couraged by  the  foiled  and  vindictive  rulers.  It  pleased 
the  people.  Peter  was  next  arrested.  The  same  fate 
awaited  him,  in  the  purpose  of  Herod.  Sixteen  soldiers 
kept  him  secure  in  the  prison  until  the  end  of  passover 
week  should  allow  his  execution.  It  M'as  a  supreme 
crisis.  The  death  of  Peter  would  be  the  signal  for  the 
destruction  of    all  the  apostles  and  leaders.     How  the 


82  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

church  could  survive  such  a  loss  no  disciple  knew.  Im- 
potent in  the  clutches  of  the  king,  the  church  betook  itself 
to  prayer.  God's  angel  came  to  the  prison,  the  bolts  fly 
back,  the  doors  open,  the  chains  fall  from  Peter's  limbs, 
and  he  walks  forth  the  Lord's  freeman.  The  guards, 
unable  to  account  for  the  prisoner's  escape,  are  condemned 
to  immediate  death.  A  few  days  later  the  tyrant  expired 
in  dreadful  agonies,  for  God  smote  him.  An  awe  of  the 
little  flock  fell  on  all  the  people.  Better  play  with  the 
forked  lightning  than  lay  unfriendly  hands  on  these  men. 
It  is  vain  for  rulers  and  arrogant  men  to  kick  against  the 
goads.  God's  eternal  purpose  in  Christ  through  the  Spirit 
shall  be  brought  to  pass.  This  gospel  of  the  kingdom 
raust  be  preached  in  Jerusalem  and  unto  the  ends  of  the 
earth. 

The  spirit  of  Jewish  caste  was  another  powerful  and 
dangerous  enemy.  The  rooted  prejudice  and  hate  of  cen- 
turies set  itself  against  the  Lord's  Anointed.  The  middle 
wall  of  partition  may  hem  in  the  institutions  of  Moses, 
l:)ut  it  cannot  confine  the  grace  and  truth  which  came  by 
Jesus  Christ.  It  must  be  broken  down.  Peter's  apos- 
tolic labors  brought  him  to  Joppa,  on  the  western  limit 
of  his  native  land.  Possibly  he  was  looking  out  across 
the  sea,  thinking  of  the  needs  of  the  people  beyond,  when 
a  vision  appeared  to  him.  He  saw  in  a  vessel,  as  it  were 
a  great  sheet  let  down  from  heaven,  "  the  fourfooted  beasts 
of  the  earth,  and  wild  beasts,  and  creeping  things,  and 
fowls  of  the  heaven."  (Rev.  Ver.)  He  heard  a  voice 
saying,  "  Kill  and  eat."  When  this  was  thrice  repeated, 
and  himself  had  been  thrice  rebuked  for  his  hesitation, 
visitors  called  thrice  for  him  at  the  gate.  They  were  mes- 
sengers from  Cornelius   the  gentile  soldier.     The  Spirit 


THE   AUTHOR  OF  MISSIONS.  33 

bade  Peter  go  ''with  them,  making  no  distinction."  (Rev. 
Ver.)  He  preached  Jesus  to  a  gentile  congregation ; 
they  were  converted ;  the  Spirit  fell  on  them,  and  they 
were  baptized  in  the  name  of  the  Father,  Son,  and  Spirit. 
Several  days  the  apostle  remained  the  guest  of  the  cen- 
turion, thus  makino;  of  him  a  social  as  well  as  a  relicrious 
equal.  The  principle  of  the  religious  equality  of  all  men 
under  the  gospel  was  distinctly  admitted  and  established. 
Later  on  trouble  arose  in  the  church  at  Antioch  con- 
cerning this  matter.  Some  of  the  Jewish  members  were 
declaring  that  the  Gentile  converts  must  obey  the  law  of 
Moses  as  a  condition  of  salvation.  They  were  conscien- 
tious in  their  view,  and  reverent  of  the  old  Scripture, 
which  really  supplied  them  with  powerful  arguments. 
Here  is  a  theological  difficulty  which  no  human  M'isdom 
can  overcome  The  letter  of  the  Old  Testament  seems  to  be 
in  irreconcilable  conflict  with  the  freedom  of  the  gospel. 
The  council  in  the  church  at  Jerusalem  is  called,  and 
Peter  explains  that  the  exaltation  of  the  Gentile  to  equal- 
ity with  the  Jew  in  the  gospel  is  the  act  of  God.  At  the 
command  of  the  Spirit  he  had  opened  the  door  of  faith  to 
the  uncircumcision.  The  Holy  Spirit  inspired  the  decree 
of  the  council  which  enunciated  the  fact  that  the  Gentiles 
are  free  from  the  law,  and  that  salvation  is  all  of  grace. 
"With  that  sublime  decree  the  partition  walls  of  the  ages 
fell  down,  and  the  trammels  of  the  law  fell  from  the 
gospel  forever. 

These  mighty  deeds  of  the  sovereign  Spirit  are  won- 
ders of  grace  and  pledges  of  the  world-wide  triumph  of 
the  cross.  They  are  the  ground  of  the  lonely  missionary's 
hope  and  the  inspiration  of  the  noblest  deeds  of  self- 
sacrifice.     The  mighty  working  of  the   Spirit  does   not 


34  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

excite  our  reverent  wonder  more  than  does  his  marvellous 
wisdom.     Under  his  guidance,  how  gentle  and  easy  the 
stages  by  which  the  movement  spreads  from  Jerusalem  to 
the  great  centres  of  pagan  civilization.     Years  of  pros- 
perity and  growth  followed   Pentecost.     There  was  no 
preaching  abroad  ;  no  heathen  was  invited  to  Christ.    The 
apostles  were  satisfied  to  remain  in  the  holy  city.     Evi- 
dently a  new  type  of  men  was  needed  ;  men  with  broader 
views  and  larger  sympathies.     The  Holy  Spirit  brought 
them  in  by  springing  an  emergency  on  the  church.     The 
Grecian  widows  were   neglected   in  the  distribution  of 
alms.     Deacons    became   a   necessity.     Significant   fact, 
each  one  of  them  is  a  foreign-born  Jew,  except  the  last, 
and  he  is  a  Gentile  proselyte.     Stephen  and  Philip,  full 
of  the  Spirit,  begin  to  preach.     Stephen  awakens  sudden 
and  fierce  antagonism.     He   sees  deep  meanings  in  the 
gospel,  and  the  ultimate  breaking  doAvn  of  J  udaism  before 
it.    He  preaches  his  gospel,  and  the  Jews  stone  him  in  their 
wrath.     This  brought  on  deadly  persecution,  the  church 
was  scattered,  and  for  the  first  time  the  gospel  got  abroad. 
Samaria  is  evangelized  by  Philip.    Now  we  understand 
why   the   Lord   preserved   this   strange   people   for   six 
centuries.     They  are  neither  Jew  nor  Gentile.     They  are 
a  half-way  race  between.     The  social  and  religious  chasm 
between  Israel  and  the  heathen  is  bridged  by  these  people. 
Next  follows  the  conversion  of  the  Ethiopian,  and  the  in- 
troduction of  the  gospel  into  Africa.     Then  follows  the 
conversion  of  Paul,  a  chosen  vessel  to  bear  the  good 
tidings  far  off  among  the  reigning  peoples  of  the  earth. 
Finally  Peter  opens  the  door  of  the  kingdom  to  Cornelius, 
when   the   gospel   defined,    vindicated,   and   established, 
begins  its  magnificent  career  of  conquest. 


THE   AUTHOE   OF   MISSIONS.  35 

Standing  in  one  of  the  streets  of  St.  Louis,  Mo.^  is  a 
large  outline  map  of  North  and  South  America,  curiously 
constructed  of  incandescent  lights.  Looking  at  the  frame- 
work in  the  night,  one  sees  a  point  of  light  begin  to  trem- 
ble on  the  isthmus.  Now  two,  now  three,  and  in  a  flash 
two  continents  stand  out  in  lines  of  fire.  Let  the  church 
of  God  plant  her  missions  all  over  the  waste  and  desolate 
places  of  the  earth.  To  the  unpurged  vision  of  the  world 
it  Vtdll  seem  a  reckless  waste.  In  moments  of  weary  wait- 
ing the  struggle  may  appear  unequal  and  hopeless  to  the 
church  herself.  Let  us  remember  Him  who  started  this 
work,  and  whoso  presence  is  pledged  to  us  forever.  With 
confidence  in  God  we  will  touch  the  strategic  points  of  the 
world  with  Christian  missions,  expecting  some  good  day 
to  see  the  Holy  Spirit  flash  through  them  with  amazing 
power  and  fill  the  whole  earth  with  the  glory  of  the 
I^ord. 


III. 

THE  HOEIZON  OF  CHRIST. 

EEV.  W.  H.  P.  FAUNCE, 
Pastor  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  New  York. 

Jesus  Christ  had  been  speaking  the  parable  of  the 
tares  and  the  wheat.  The  disciples  came  to  him  privately, 
asking  for  an  interpretation  of  its  meaning.  The  beauty 
and  power  of  a  parable  are  in  this,  that  it  means  much  or 
little,  according  to  the  calibre  of  the  man  who  hears  it. 
A  little  man  looks  into  a  parable  of  Christ  and  sees  the 
reflection  of  his  own  littleness — an  ingenious  and  amusing 
story,  nothing  more.  A  great  soul  looks  into  it  and  sees 
there  the  eternal  principles  on  which  the  world  is  built. 
So  when  the  disciples  cried,  "  Declare  unto  us  the  parable 
of  the  tares  of  the  field,"  they  knew  not  what  they  asked. 
They  little  dreamed  what  answer  they  would  evoke. 
Perhaps  they  thpught  Christ  was  talking  about  the 
province  of  Galilee.  At  most  he  was  speaking  of  Pales- 
tine, the  abode  of  the  divinely  chosen  race.  But  suddenly 
Christ  pushed  out  th^ir  horizon  to  an  infinite  radius  with 
one  quiet  sentence :  "  The  field  is  the  world." 

First  of  all,  let  us  reverse  the  thought  and  consider 
how  Christ  teaches  us  that  this  world  is  a  field.  Said  the 
great  dramatist : 

All  the  world's  a  stage, 
And  all  the  men  and  women  merely  players. 

And  truly,  when  we  see  how  men  come  and  go  in  this 
earthly  life,  how  swift  are  the  exits  and  entrances,  how 
86 


THE   HORIZON   OF   CHRIST.  37 

transitory  their  achievements  and  how  fictitious  much  of 
their  pomp  and  power  and  parade,  we  are  all  sometimes 
tempted  to  say,  "  This  world's  a  stage."  This  is  the  pre- 
vailing view  of  poetry,  ancient  and  modern.  The  poet  is 
an  idealist,  looking  at  the  eternal  truths  beneath  the  chang- 
ing outward  forms,  and  to  him  human  history  seems  a 
passing  show,  a  series  of  phantasmagoria.  The  pessimist 
and  the  Buddhist  go  a  step  farther  and  declare  that  life  is 
an  evil  from  whose  pain  and  delusion  all  mortals  should 
be  glad  to  escape.  Even  Christian  poetry  is  full  of  the 
dramatic  and  scenic  idea  of  life.  One  of  the  first  poets  of 
our  English  tongue  centuries  ago  said  :  "  Life  is  the  flight 
of  a  bird  through  a  lighted  room  at  evening ;  "  and  Ten- 
nyson in  "  Crossing  the  Bar,"  represents  his  own  life  as 
the  pause  of  a  boat  drawn  up  on  the  shore,  that  soon 
sets  out  again  to  the  infinite  sea. 

Sharply  opposed  to  this  poetic  view  of  life  is  the 
modern  scientific  view,  which  regards  the  world  as  a 
mechanism,  a  soulless  combination  of  powers,  grinding 
away  under  inexorable  laws.  Christian  thought  in  the 
eighteenth  century  commonly  spoke  of  the  world  as  a 
skillfully  contrived  machine.  We  have  now  added  to 
this  concepiion  the  idea  of  growth,  of  evolution ;  but  still 
the  prevailing  scientific  view  of  the  world  is  that  of  a 
pitiless,  impersonal  mechanism  working  toward  some  end 
no  man  can  discern. 

Now  Christ  comes  to  tell  us  that  both  these  views  of 
life  are  poor  and  insufficient.  He  teaches  that  the  world 
is  not  a  fleeting  show ;  that  we  are  dealing  with  sternest 
realities ;  that  the  present  life  is  infinitely  grand  and  its 
issues  are  to  last  forever.  So  he  teaches  that  nature  is  not 
a  mere  blind  working  of  forces,  but  that  God  the  Father 
4 


38  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

is  above  and  around  and  within  it.  Then  he  gives  us 
his  own  conception, — the  world  afield,  i.  e.,  an  opportunity 
for  the  planting  and  the  growth  of  the  divine  seed. 
Constantly  in  his  teaching  he  returns  to  this  conception, 
and  in  eight  diiferent  parables  he  pictures  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  as  a  divine  growth  out  of  human  soil.  In  the 
parable  of  the  mustard  seed,  and  of  the  vineyard,  and  of 
the  seed  growing  secretly,  and  in  a  score  of  other 
passages,  we  see  Christ  looking  on  the  world  as  one  vast 
field  for  the  divine  planting,  and  the  world  seems  to  him 
made  for  nothing  else  than  the  implanting  and  develop- 
ment of  the  divine  seed  which  God  has  entrusted  to  our 
human  keeping. 

As  we  gaze  on  a  great  city  to-day,  we  may  well  ask  : 
What  is  all  this  for?  These  factories  and  mills,  whose 
ponderous  wheels  revolve  through  light  and  darkness, 
whose  tall  chimneys  belch  smoke  and  flame,  these  libraries 
and  art  galleries  and  schools,  these  churches  and  homes — 
what  are  they  all  for?  Christ  holds  the  answer,  and  if 
we  are  to  do  his  work  we  must  share  his  view.  All 
these  are  a  field,  a  great  and  splendid  possibility.  As 
some  owner  of  broad  eetates  may  gaze  out  upon  them  all 
and  see  in  his  mind's  eye  future  orchards  and  waving 
yellow  harvests,  so  Christ  looks  out  on  our  seething 
world  of  human  action  and  sees  in  it  all  an  inspiring 
opportunity.  Our  organizations  and  undertakings,  our 
legislatures  and  universities,  our  business  houses,  our 
unions  in  labor  or  science  or  art,  all  the  toil  and  strife 
and  eager  struggle  of  humanity — Christ  sees  in  it  all  a 
great  opening,  a  splendid  possibility,  a  field  where  the 
divine  ideal  may  be  realized  and  divine  truth  may 
blossom    in  human    fruita2;e.      The  world   in   itself  he 


THE   HORIZON    OF   CHRIST.  39 

views  as  neither  good  nor  bad,  but  a  soil  in  which  either 
bad  or  good  will  grow ;  a  soil  with  powers  of  production 
to  be  utilized  either  by  Christ  or  by  Satan ;  a  soil  so 
fecund  that  whatever  is  dropped  into  it  tends  at  once  to 
sprout  and  spread  and  wax  and  put  forth  great  brandies. 

Have  M^e  learned  yet  to  stand  beside  Christ  and  take 
his  view  of  all  the  moving,  striving  powers  about  us? 
The  world  as  an  opportunity — what  an  inspiring  and  up- 
lifting view  is  this  !  As  we  study  history,  as  we  peruse 
the  newspaper,  as  we  meet  men  and  see  their  varied  occu- 
pations, let  this  world  be  to  us,  as  to  Jesus  Christ,  not  a 
passing  show,  not  a  blind  mechanism,  but  one  vast  and 
glorious  possibility,  an  opening  for  divine  seed,  a  promise 
of  divine  harvest.  The  world  is  a  field,  where  the  good 
will  grow  as  quickly  as  the  evil,  yellow  wheat  as  easily 
as  noisome  weeds. 

But  now  look  more  closely  at  the  thought  as  Christ 
spake  it :  "  The  field  is  the  world."  The  man  who  said 
that  was  a  Jew,  and  the  Jews  had  been  trained  from  time  im- 
memorial to  believe  that  they  alone  were  the  chosen  field, 
and  the  rest  of  humanity  was  arid  desert.  Indeed,  all 
of  us  are  natural  Ptolemaists — we  think  the  sun,  moon, 
and  stars,  revolve  about  ourselves.  The  zenith  is  always 
the  point  just  over  our  heads,  the  nadir  just  beneath  our 
feet,  and  the  most  important  M-ork  in  the  world  what  we 
ourselves  are  doing.  It  is  wholly  right  that  for  each 
man  the  centre  of  interest  should  be  his  own  task.  But 
men  differ  greatly  as  regards  their  field  of  vision.  A 
man  standing  on  a  plain  may  see  perhaps  two  or  three 
miles  in  any  direction.  If  we  imagine  such  a  man  slowly 
lifted  into  the  air,  ascending  some  height  like  the  Eiffel 
Tower,  his  first  sensation  will  be  that  of  expanding  hori- 


40  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

zon.  At  the  height  of  fifty  feet  his  circle  of  vision  may 
be  ten  miles  in  radius ;  at  one  hundred  feet,  twenty  miles  : 
at  five  hundred  feet,  fifty  miles  ;  bis  ascent  is  marked  by 
a  series  of  concentric  horizons,  and  the  man's  altitude 
above  the  earth  is  exactly  measured  by  the  width  of  his 
horizon  upon  it.  Now  this  is  true  in  the  spiritual  realm. 
A  man's  mental  and  moral  altitude  is  measured  exactly 
by  his  circle  of  interest  and  sympathy.  Some  men  live 
in  a  well — their  horizon  is  the  well's  mouth  with  a  tiny 
patch  of  sky  above  it;  others  dwell  on  a  mountain  top, 
and  behold  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  at  every  sun- 
rise. The  extension  of  the  gospel  is  hindered  lo-day  not 
so  much  by  the  wickedness  as  by  the  littleness  of  men. 
When  a  man  is  positively  vicious  we  can  apply  rebuke, 
and  correction,  and  prison  bars ;  but  when  he  is  stub- 
bornly and  persistently  little,  what  remedy  have  we  then  ? 
I  have  seen  the  Lord's  Prayer  written  in  microscopic 
characters  within  the  circle  of  a  silver  dime,  every  letter 
perfect,  but  practically  invisible.  And  I  liave  seen  men 
whose  Christianity  seemed  faultlessly  orthodox,  but  so  lit- 
tle, so  circumscribed,  as  to  be  practically  useless  to  mankind. 
All  of  us  know  men  whose  horizon  is  bounded  by 
their  business  pursuits.  They  understand  how  to  do  one 
thing,  and  do  it  successfully.  But  outside  of  that  little 
circle,  which  slirinks  constantly  as  the  years  pass,  they 
have  no  vision,  no  enjoyment,  no  aspiration.  To  tiiem 
the  field  is  the  office,  the  store,  or  the  study,  and  like 
Noah  floating  in  his  ark  they  leave  the  rest  of  the  world 
to  drown.  One  of  the  most  eminent  college  presidents 
this  country  ever  saw,  a  man  whose  name  would  be 
instantly  recognized  if  I  should  pronounce  it,  wrote  some 
some  years  ago  :  "  The  men  who  least  comprehend  what 


THE    HORIZON    OF    CHRIST.  41 

I  am  trying  to  do  in  this  college,  are  the  professors  of 
the  college.  They  are  noble,  self-sacrificing  men,  bnt 
each  one  considers  his  own  department  the  only  really 
important  one,  and  the  idea  of  building  up  a  university 
is  something  none  of  them  can  grasp."  Some  of  the 
men  who  stand  highest  in  our  churches  to-day  have  never 
yet  caught  a  glimpse  of  what  Christ  is  doing  on  this 
earth. 

Other  men  have  a  horizon  bounded  by  the  walls  of 
their  own  home.  A  beautiful  nest  they  have  built  for 
wife  and  children ;  there  they  retire  from  storm  and 
stress,  there  they  find  repose  and  sympathy ;  but  it  has 
never  occurred  to  them  that  that  home  was  given  as  a  means 
of  blessing  all  other  homes  in  the  wide  world.  "I  will 
bless  thee,"  said  God  to  Abraham,  when  promising  him  a 
home,  "  I  will  bless  thee,  and  in  thee  shall  all  families  of 
the  earth  be  blessed."  A  man  whose  horizon  is  the  four 
walls  of  his  home  has  not  reached  any  remarkable  ele- 
vation either  of  intellect  or  heart. 

Other  men  have  enlarged  their  circle  of  vision  till  it 
embraces  a  church,  a  religious  denomination,  but  refuse  to 
extend  farther.  To  them  their  cliurch  is  practically 
co-extensive  with  the  kingdom  of  God.  They  spell  their 
church  with  a  capital  letter,  all  others  with  a  small  one, 
or  in  some  way  indicate  that  it  is  the  sole  channel  of  God's 
grace  coming  into  the  hearts  of  men.  They  unconsciously 
begin  to  live  for  the  church — they  become  propagandists 
rather  than  preachers ;  they  make  proselytes  rather  than 
Christians. 

Other  men  tliere  are  whose  horizon  embraces  a  whole 
city  or  State,  or  even  an  entire  nation,  republic  or  empire. 
This  constitutes  the  arreat  work  of  the  famous  German 


42  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

chancellor  who  stood  so  long  at  the  head  of  the  German 
Empire.  AVhen  Bismarck  came  to  office  he  found  scores 
of  little  German  duchies,  independent  citie?,  petty  princi- 
palities, each  one  collecting  its  own  taxes,  making  its  own 
laws,  acknowledging  its  own  sovereign ;  and  he  pushed 
out  the  German  horizon,  he  lifted  up  before  the  German 
peoples  the  great  conception  of  a  Fatherland,  and  through 
that  enlargement  of  horizon  has  come  all  the  power  and 
glory  of  the  German  Empire  of  to-day.  Will  there  ever 
come  a  man  who  will  do  the  same  thing  for  the  various  sects 
and  denominations  into  which  Christendom  is  sundered 
to-day  ?  Yes,  I  believe  the  prophet  will  yet  arise,  who, 
sacrificing  no  conviction  and  injuring  no  Christian  con- 
science, shall  yet  lead  all  Christian  liearts  toward  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace,  make  us  all  see 
that  the  kingdom  is  greater  than  any  corner  of  it,  and  ful- 
fill the  prayer  of  Christ,  "  That  they  all  may  be  one." 

But  wider  yet  is  the  thought  of  Jesus.  The  field  is  not 
my  city,  my  country,  my  church,  nor  all  churches  togeth- 
er— the  field  is  the  world  !  Wherever  man  is  found, 
from  sea  to  sea  and  pole  to  pole,  regardless  of  all  lines  of 
race  and  color  and  belief;  all  divisions,  social,  political, 
religious,  the  field  is  the  world — anything  less  is  a  cari- 
cature of  Christianity,  any  smaller  conception  is  a  belit- 
tling of  our  faith  ;  any  smaller  endeavor  unworthy  of  the 
Christian  name.  The  man  who  wants  to  work  for  Christ 
must  share  the  horizon  of  Christ ;  the  man  who  truly 
stands  beside  the  Son  of  God  will  see  the  world  as  he 
saw  it. 

Here,  then,  is  the  true  motive  of  foreign  missions. 
Not  that  the  heathen  will  be  punished  eternally,  not  that 
they  are  dropping  into  a  pit  of  woe  at  the  rate  of  so  many 


THE    HORIZON    OF    CHRIST.  43 

a  minute.  Such  calculations  will  not  help  us.  The  ulti- 
mate fate  of  all  souls  ^ye  leave  in  the  hands  of  the  Infin- 
ite God.  AVe  are  willing  to  say  that  what  we  know 
about  the  future  is  little,  what  we  do  not  know  is  im- 
mense. Our  message  is  not  a  theodicy,  but  a  gospel.  It 
is  ours,  not  "  to  justify  the  ways  of  God  to  men,"  but  to 
rectify  the  ways  of  men  to  God.  The  ultimate  motive  is 
this  :  We  love  Christ,  and  what  he  is  doing  we  would  do 
also.  We  love  Christ,  and  therefore  Avherever  his  pierced 
feet  lead  the  way,  we  must  follow.  We  love  Christ,  and 
therefore  while  he  is  saying  "  the  field  is  the  world," 
we  dare  not  say :  "  The  field  is  my  church,  my  city,  my 
native  land."  As  the  Crusaders  had  one  answer  to  all  ob- 
jections— "Deus  vult"  so  our  answer  is  only  this,  ''  It  is 
the  will  of  Christ." 

Often  when  we  speak  of  the  regions  beyond,  we  hear 
the  cry,  "  heathen  at  home."  Dear  friends,  are  you  not  a 
little  weary  of  hearing  that  ?  Are  you  not  a  little  weary 
of  hearing  that  cry  from  men  who  never  lift  their  finger 
for  the  sake  of  the  heathen  at  their  door  ?  But  I  will 
not  pause  to  show  how  pitifully  small  that  cry  often  is. 
I  will  only  ask  this  :  Suppose  the  church  had  always 
acted  on  the  principle  of  converting  the  "  heathen  at 
home,"  where  would  we  be  to-day  ?  There  was  a  time 
when  our  Teutonic  forefathers  hunted  and  lived  in  the 
German  forests.  Then  the  Irish  monk  Boniface  felt  the 
missionary  impulse,  he  crossed  the  channel,  preached  to 
our  rough  ancestors,  and  baptized  one  hundred  thousand 
with  his  own  hand.  There  Avas  a  time  when  our  Anglo- 
Saxon  fathers  were  in  England.  "  Not  Angles,  but 
angels,"  said  Gregory,  as  he  gazed  on  their  fair  long  hair 
and  blue  eyes.     He  sent  Augustine  to  that  far-away  for- 


44  CENTENAKY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

eign  province.  At  Canterbury,  where  now  stands  the 
chief  cathedral  of  England,  the  preacher  landed  with  his 
monks,  carrying  the  cross  and  chanting  a  psalm,  and 
England  has  been  through  all  tlie  succeeding  centuries  a 
Christian  nation,  because  of  men  who  would  not  stay  at 
home  in  the  presence  of  the  Macedonian  cry. 

Suppose  we  could  induce  the  churches  of  New  York  to 
close  eyes  and  ears  to  all  the  world  beyond,  and  make 
the  field  simply  Manhattan  Island.  How  long  do  you 
think  it  w^ould  take  us  to  convert  the  heathen  there,  while 
every  steamer  brings  a  new  load  into  Castle  Garden  ?  A 
thousand  years  would  be  a  small  estimate,  and  at  the  end 
of  that  time  the  churches  themselves  would  have  ceased 
to  exist.  There  is  that  scattereth,  and  yet  increaseth ; 
there  is  that  withholdeth,  and  it  tendeth  to  poverty. 

Here  is  also  the  true  method  of  foreign  missions.  The 
good  seed  are  the  children  of-  the  kingdom.  Not  simply 
certain  truths  are  we  trying  to  give  to  heathendom,  not  to 
plant  certain  dogmas  and  watch  their  development,  but 
to  plant  living  men  and  women  in  the  heart  of  heathen- 
dom. We  are  to  give  not  a  theology,  but  a  self;  we  are 
to  plant  not  Christianity,  but  Christians.  Every  gift  is 
great  when  the  self  goes  with  it,  and  every  gift  is  small 
which  has  no  heart  behind  it.  The  amount  of  self  that 
goes  into  the  contribution  box  measures  the  eifectiveness 
of  the  contribution.  Sometimes,  in  cases  of  illness,  the 
physicians  prescribe  a  draught  of  ordinary  water  drunk 
from  a  wooden  cup  fashioned  out  of  some  medicinal  forest 
tree.  It  is  only  common  water  that  the  sick  man  drinks, 
yet  that  water  resting  in  the  hollow  cup  has  absorbed  into 
it  all  the  healing  virtues  of  the  forest  tree.  So  I  have 
known  men  who  could  give  only  a  tiny  gift,  ten  minutes 


THE   HORIZON    OF   CHRIST.  45 

of  time,  a  single  dollar,  it  may  be ;  yet  that  gift,  coming 
from  a  Christlike  soul,  had  so  absorbed  into  itself  the 
quality  of  the  giver,  that  it  was  full  of  healing  and  help- 
ing power  for  humanity.  The  good  seed  is  not  simply 
propositions  that  we  can  promulgate,  not  simply  institu- 
tions that  we  can  transport,  but  men  and  women  who  are 
the  children  of  the  kingdom  who,  because  Christ  has 
touched  them,  are  able  to  touch  others  into  Christlike 
life. 

We  see,  also,  the  true  spirit  of  missions, — one  of  se- 
rene and  quiet  confidence.  We  are  not  beggars  for  Christ, 
but  ambassadors  for  Christ.  We  are  not  pleading  and 
arguing  with  men  to  give  us  their  pittance  for  our  pet 
enterprise ;  Ave  are  going  forth  in  the  name  of  the  victori- 
ous Christ,  having  utmost  confidence  in  him  and  in  the 
human  soil  where  he  has  bidden  us  plant.  We  are  doing 
our  own  task  most  truly  when  we  are  remembering  con- 
stantly the  whole  field  which  the  Master  has  in  view. 
We  cannot  do  his  work  until  we  see  through  his  eyes. 
You  remember  how  in  the  picture  of  the  Angelus  the 
two  workers  stand  at  close  of  day  bending  over  the  little 
task  they  have  completed,  while  the  sun  sinks  in  the 
western  sky  and  the  convent  bell  peals  out  the  hour  of 
prayer.  It  will  not  be  long  before  all  of  us  will  stand 
over  our  little  life-work  finished  forever ;  but  let  us  re- 
joice that  many  others  will  stand  beside  us,  and  let  us 
remember  amid  the  noonday  toil,  that  the  field  is  not 
merely  our  task,  but  the  whole  world  for  which  Christ 
died. 


IV. 

MOTIVES  TO  MISSIONS  AMONG  THE 
HEATHEN. 

HENRY  E.  ROBINS,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Professor  in  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Upon  what  motives  may  we  rely  to  incite  the  people 
of  God  to  a  vigorous  prosecution  of  missionary  work 
among  those  who  are  destitute  of  the  light  of  Christian 
truth  as  conveyed  to  us  in  the  Christian  Scriptures? 

The  real  motive  of  human  action  is  always  within  the 
soul,  never  without.  Outward  conditions,  often  in  common 
speech  called  motives,  are  only  occasions  by  which  the 
internal  motives  are  brought  into  play,  and  can  be  called 
motives  only  in  a  secondary,  not  in  a  primary  sense. 
Money  as  external  to  me  is  not  my  motive  in  seeking  it, 
whether  I  seek  it  for  worthy  or  unworthy  ends ;  it  is 
rather  my  desire  for  it,  that  I  may  use  it  to  sustain  and 
enlarge  and  enrich  my  life  and  the  lives  of  others ;  or  that 
I  may  hoard  it  to  gratify  the  passion  of  mere  possession, 
or  pervert  it  to  secure  power  or  station  or  luxury — self- 
gratification  in  one  or  more  of  its  protean  forms. 

Bearing  in  mind,  then,  that  the  motive  which  we  seek 
is  within,  we  are  ready  to  say  that  God  himself  is  the 
fountain  of  missionary  motive.  "  God,"  said  the  Great 
Teacher,  "  so  loved  the  world,  that  he  gave  his  only  be- 
gotten Son,  that  whosoever  believeth  on  him  should  not 
perish,  but  have  eternal  life."  God  loves  and  desires  to 
save  a  world  of  sinners ;  this  fact,  declared  so  impressively 
4G 


MOTIVES   TO    MISSIONS    AMONG    THE    HEATHEN.       47 

in  the  passage  which  we  have  quoted,  is  everywhere  either 
expressly  affirmed  or  implied  by  tlie  general  tenor  of  the 
word  of  God  from  beginning  to  end.  The  love  of  God, 
not  his  complacent  but  his  pitying  love — to  make  a  dis- 
tinction upon  which  the  theologians  rightly  insist — the 
love  of  God  toward  a  world  of  sinners  is  the  one  only 
motive  sufficiently  adequate  in  vitality  and  force,  per- 
sistent in  its  energy  and  comprehensive  in  its  scope,  to 
inspire  the  church  to  her  stupendous  task  of  the  conquest 
of  the  world  for  its  Lord.  A  plan  which  the  infinite  God 
only  could  conceive,  he  only  can  execute.  A  supernatural 
work  requires  a  supernatural  motive. 

But,  you  say,  the  love  of  God  for  sinners  is  a  motive 
for  his  action,  not  for  ours.     Let  us  see. 

The  love  of  God  found  its  first  manifestation  through 
him  who  shared  it  with  the  Father  from  the  beginning, 
even  the  incarnate  Son  of  God,  especially  in  his  atoning 
death,  by  which  God's  gracious  relation  to  sinful  men  was 
justified  and  made  possible.  The  love  of  God  toward  a 
world  of  sinners  was  the  motive  of  Christ's  action.  But, 
you  say,  the  motive  is  still  within  the  sphere  of  the  Divine 
nature.  Admitted,  but  notice  :  It  is  God's  plan  in  making 
a  channel  for  his  love  that,  by  union  with  Christ,  by  faith 
in  him  through  the  regenerating  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
sinful  men  shall  become  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature, 
children  of  God,  so  that  the  impulse  of  saving  grace  which 
wrought  in  the  Father  and  in  Christ  shall  be  operative  in 
them  also — each  one  of  them 

No  blind,  unsharing  instrument, 
But  joj'ful  iDartner  of  his  purpose. 

Accordingly,  our  Lord  said  to  his  immediate  disciples,  and 


48  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

through  them  to  Christians  of  all  time :  "  Ye  are  the  salt 
of  the  earth."  "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world."  They 
are  constituted  salt  in  order  that,  since  it  is  of  the  nature  of 
salt  to  save,  they  may  save  the  earth.  They  have  been 
constituted  luminaries  in  order  that,  since  it  is  of  the 
nature  of  light  to  shine,  they  may  enlighten  the  world. 
It  is  of  the  very  essence  of  salt,  as  Bengel  suggests,  com- 
menting on  this  passage,  to  have  savor  and  to  give  savor, 
to  have  it  in  order  to  give  it.  If  it  neither  has  it  nor  gives 
it,  it  is  not  gait,  and  is  good  for  no  economic  use,  fit  only 
to  be  cast  out  and  trodden  under  foot  of  men.  So  lamps 
are  lighted,  as  the  Great  Teacher  affirms,  not  to  be  put 
under  a  bushel,  but  on  the  stand,  that  they  may  shine 
unto  all  that  are  in  the  house.  In  harmony  with  this 
teaching  of  our  Lord,  God's  promise  to  Abraham,  called 
the  father  of  believers  of  all  time,  since  in  spiritual  char- 
acter they  were  to  resemble  their  great  progenitor,  was : 
"  I  will  bless  thee,  and  make  thee  a  blessing.  In  thee 
shall  all  the  families  of  the  earth  be  blessed."  vGod's  pur- 
pose, we  see,  is  not  attained  when  the  individual  soul  is 
made  Christian.  A  man  is  regenerated  rather  in  order 
that,  while  he  himself  is  "  being  saved  "  (Acts  2  :  47), 
while  the  process  of  salvation  is  going  on  in  him,  and 
ideally  inseparable  from  it,  he  may  save  others  also ;  so 
that,  at  last,  the  kingdom  of  God  in  the  new  redeemed 
race  shall  be  established.  God's  ideal  plan  is  that  his  re- 
deeming love,  kindled  as  a  flame  in  the  hearts  of  his 
redeemed  children,  shall  run  like  a  prairie  fire,  each 
ignited  blade  of  grass  kindling  its  neighbor  until  the 
burning  circle  extends  the  whole  horizon  round.  The 
divine  impulse  of  God's  redeeming  love  for  sinners  within 
the  believer  can  be  limited  in  its  scope  only  by  his  ability ; 


MOTIVES    TO    MLSSIONS    AMONG    THE    HEATIIEX.       4'J 

however  the  environment  of  immediate  duty  may  restrain 
him,  his  love,  since  it  is  the  love  of  God  working  through 
him,  embraces  the  world.  He  is  in  fellowship,  com- 
munion, or,  as  Dr.  Hackett  used  to  emphasize  the  thought, 
he  is  in  co-partnership  with  God ;  what  God  loves,  he 
loves ;  what  God  seeks,  he  seeks.  In  a  word,  he  is 
a  channel  of  divine  grace,  as  Christ  was.  We  have  in  this 
manner  disclosed  the  supreme,  the  only  real  motive  upon 
which  we  must  rely,  and  to  which  we  must  make  our 
appeal.  The  love  of  God  for  a  sinful  world  inspiring  a 
regenerate  church  in  conscious,  living  union  with  her  Lord 
is  the  sole  hope  of  missions  among  the  heathen. 

But  there  is  a  fact,  attested  by  current  observation  and 
church  history,  which,  carefully  considered,  puts  a  strong 
emphasis  upon  the  truth  we  have  discovered — viz.,  that 
missionary  zeal  of  a  certain  sort  may  be  awakened  and 
missionary  enterprises  may  be  prosecuted  by  appeal 
to  motives  operative  in  the  unrenewed  heart.  Destitute 
of  love,  a  man  may  bestow  all  his  goods  to  feed  the  poor, 
may  give  his  body  to  be  burned,  may  compass  sea  and 
land  to  make  proselytes.  Accordingly,  missionary  worlc 
may  be  vigorously  carried  on,  but  in  a  loveless  spirit,  bur- 
dened by  unconsecrated  workers,  unconsecrated  money, 
unspiritual  methods,  and  unspiritual  ends.  You  will 
allow  me  to  say,  my  brethren,  that  it  is  my  conviction 
that  in  these  loveless  helps,  in  the  alien  spirit,  we  find  our 
chief  hindrance  in  our  work.  A  sort  of  moral  paralysis 
seems  at  times  to  steal  over  us,  making  our  efforts  abortive, 
so  that  results  are  far  from  commensurate  with  the  money 
expended  and  the  machinery  set  in  operation.  I  speak 
as  unto  men  spiritually  wise ;  judge  ye  what  I  say. 

Passing  this  important  pomt,  deserving  a  fuller  discus- 
5 


50  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

sion,  with  this  brief  allusion,  let  me  now  pass  to  say  that  we 
are  to  seek  by  every  means  to  awaken  the  regenerate 
churcli  to  her  sublime  privilege  and  responsibility,  as  put 
in  trust  by  virtue  of  her  regeneration  with  the  redeeming 
love  of  God  toward  a  sinful  world.  And  this  we  may  do 
by  making  it  evident  that,  since  Christ  is  the  God  of 
providence,  head  over  all  things,  administering  the 
government  of  the  world  in  the  interest  of  redemption,  all 
the  vast  resources  of  our  material  civilization  are,  so  far  as 
they  are  within  her  power,  facilities  granted  to  the  church 
with  the  express  design  to  enable  her,  as  trustee  of  that 
priceless  thing,  to  make  known  God's  love  toward  those, 
the  world  over,  for  whom  Christ  died. 

When  on  one  occasion  that  seer  of  God,  the  late  Jonah 
G.  Warren,  stood  watching  a  company  of  missionaries 
standing  upon  the  deck  of  a  steamer  just  putting  to  sea, 
he  is  reported  to  have  exclaimed,  as  if  at  that  moment 
profoundly  impressed  with  the  thought :  "  That  is  what 
steamers  are  for  !  "  Yes,  that  is  M'hat  steamers  are  for  in 
God's  intent.  The  means  of  transportation,  which  mark 
our  age  above  every  other  which  has  preceded  it,  are 
highv/ays  which  Christ  has  cast  up  for  feet  shod  Avith  the 
preparation  of  the  gospel  of  peace ;  the  means  of  commu- 
nication of  intelligence  so  wonderful  that  a  whisper 
may  be  heard  from  city  to  city,  and  the  touch  of  a  child's 
finger  speed  a  message  around  the  globe ;  the  accumula- 
tions of  wealth  in  Christian  hands  greater  than  ever  since 
the  Babe  of  Marv  awakened  to  his  mission  in  the  mane^er 
of  Bethlehem;  Christian  learning  wider  in  its  scope,  and 
more  profound,  and  more  exact  in  its  acquisitions  than 
ever  before ;  Christian  homes  larger  in  number,  and 
realizing  tiie  Christian  ideal  of  family  life  more  fully  than 


MOTIVES    TO    ]\[ISSI0N3    AMONG    THE    HEATHEN.       51 

ever  since  the  Christian  calendar  began  to  witness  to  the 
supremacy  of  our  Lord ;  the  social  and  political  life  of 
Christendom  testifying — I  will  not  say  notwi^^hstanding, 
but  even  in  its  conflicts  and  agitations  to  the  resistless 
working  of  the  transforming  power  of  the  gospel — what 
are  all  these  but  means  which  God's  love  may  use  in  pour- 
ing itself  forth  through  his  children,  as  Christ  poured 
forth  his  blood  for  the  salvation  of  the  world.  The 
church  of  preceding  times  was  never  so  equipped,  never 
had  such  resources  at  her  command.  The  providential 
indications  of  God's  purpose  in  redemption  were  never  so 
clear;  and  hence  Christians  of  earlier  times  were  so 
far  excusable  for  their  misconception  of  the  mission 
of  the  church ;  but  our  opportunity  is  both  index  and 
measure  of  our  privilege  and  our  duty.  Alas  for  us  if  we 
misinterpret  Christ's  meaning  in  blessing  us  so  abund- 
antly, if  we  fail  to  detect  in  the  profusion  of  his  gifts  to  us 
the  yearning  of  his  heart  for  lost  sheep  not  of  this  fold. 
What  he  has  done  for  us  is  but  a  declaration,  a  vivid  por- 
trayal before  our  very  eyes,  of  what  he  desires  to  do  for 
others  through  us.  Let  us  tremble  with  a  holy  joy  that 
the  world's  Redeemer  dwells  within  us ;  that  it  is  his  love 
for  earth's  perishing  millions  that  moves  us.  Let  us  im- 
prison our  Lord  no  longer.  Let  us  cease  to  restrain  the 
divine  love  that  urges  us  along  the  pathway  of  the  Re- 
deemer's mission.  Is  the  printed  word  of  God  a  living 
thing  to  us,  throbbing  with  the  life  of  the  living  Word? 
Do  we  shudder  with  a  sort  of  horror  when  v>e  consider 
how  darkened  and  desolate  our  lives  would  be  vvithout  it? 
Have  we  seen  Christ  evidently  set  forth  before  our  eyes 
crucified?  Have  we  clearly  apprehended  the  way  of  sal- 
vation through  his  atoning  death  ?     Have  we  known  the 


bZ  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

holy  joy,  the  sacred  peace  of  forgiven  sin?  Have  we 
known  the  sweet  sanctity  of  the  Christian  home  and  the 
innumerable  blessings  of  the  Christian  State?  What  are 
these  but  gifts  of  love  of  the  strong  Son  of  God,  impell- 
ing us  by  the  very  richness  of  these  gifts  to  give  ourselves 
no  rest  until  Christ  shall  be  to  all  the  world  what  he  is  to 
us  ?  May  I  quote  here,  as  expressing  my  thought,  from 
Dr.  Storrs'  address,  delivered  at  the  eighty-second  annual 
meeting  of  the  American  Board,  recently  held  in  Pitts- 
field  :  "  Our  aim,"  he  said,  "  is  to  brighten  humanity,  by 
making  the  heavenly  temper  universal  among  mankind  ; 
to  make  every  house  on  eartli  a  Christian  home,  and  every 
community  a  Christian  community,  a  perfect,  vital,  social 
organization.  ...  It  has  been  the  idea  in  God's 
mind  from  the  outset  that  the  heavenly  life  should  finally 
be  experienced  throughout  the  earth,  until  heaven  and 
earth  blend  at  the  horizon,  and  the  heavenly  Jerusalem 
be  founded  on  earth."  Yes,  it  is  the  love  of  God  in  us  for 
a  world  steeped  in  the  guilt  and  misery  of  sin  that  prompts 
us  to  pray,  taught  by  the  Saviour  of  men  himself :  "  Thy 
kingdom  come ;  thy  will  be  done,  as  in  heaven,  so  on 
earth."  Our  transcendent  j^rivileges  and  the  appalling 
destitution,  both  spiritual  and  material,  of  heathen  nations, 
in  their  piteous  ignorance  of  God  and  Christ,  terrified  by 
the  creations  of  their  own  darkened  imaginations,  the 
dense  gloom,  the  very  shadow  of  death  in  which  they 
grope  their  way  through  life  to  hopeless  graves,  are  fitted 
to  awaken  the  divine  motive  within  us  to  its  uttermost 
urgency. 

Nor  can  any  hope  that,  on  scriptural  grounds,  we  may 
cherish  for  the  regeneration  of  individual  souls  among  the 
heathen  in  any  wise  diminish  the  force  of  such  an  appeal 


MOTIVES    TO  MISSIONS   AMONG   THE   HEATHEN.      53 

to  this  motive.  We  do,  indeed,  rejoice  in  the  fact  that 
Christ  in  his  death  "  is  the  propitiation  for  our  sins ;  and 
not  for  ours  only,  but  also  for  the  whole  world  "  (1  John 
2:2);  that  the  atonement  is  as  extensive  in  its  scope  as 
human  sin  ;  that  the  ministry  of  the  Spirit,  made  possible 
by  the  death  of  Christ  so  to  apply  its  benefits,  is  as  univer- 
sal as  the  scope  of  the  atonement ;  that  the  entire  race  is 
thus  under  a  real  probation  of  grace,  so  that  the  death  of 
Ciirist  not  only  makes  salvation  possible  for  all,  but  cer- 
tain for  some  in  all  ages  and  all  lands.  This,  however,  ( 
is  only  to  say  that  there  is  peril  of  the  loss  of  the  soul,  ^ 
whether  in  heathen  or  Christian  lands,  and  that  whatever 
motive  impels  us  to  preach  the  gospel  at  home  has,  if  ' 
right,  equal  force  at  least  in  impelling  us  to  preach  the  i 
gospel  among  all  nations.  Beyond  dispute  it  is  certain 
that  the  truths  of  the  Christian  Scriptures  assimilated  by 
faith,  wrought  into  the  life  of  the  soul  by  thejoint  action  of 
intellect,  sensibility,  and  will,  are  essential  to  tlie  realization 
among  men  of  distinctive  Christian  experience,  essential 
to  the  attainment  of  Christ-like  character,  essential  to  the 
purification  and  reorganization  of  social  and  political  life 
according  to  the  Christian  ideal ;  and  these  in  their  turn 
are  essential  to  the  realization  of  God's  plan  of  the  ulti- 
mate establishment  of  his  kingdom  in  the  heavenly  state. 
The  unfolding  of  the  ages  is,  we  all  believe,  as  the  Script- 
ures teach,  "  according  to  the  purpose  of  him  who  worketh 
all  things  after  the  counsel  of  his  will"  (Eph.  1  :  11).  What 
we  behold,  then,  of  the  triumphs  of  Christian  civilization 
in  the  world  is  in  fulfillment  of  that  purpose.  Reasoning 
from  what  we  see  that  God  has  done,  and  interpreting 
accordingly  the  intimations  of  the  future  given  in  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  who  will  venture  to  say  that  the  light 


54  CENTENAEY   MISSIONARY    ADD r. ESSES. 

which  has  already  fallen  from  the  Sun  of  Righteousness 
upon  our  darkened  humanity  may  not  be  the  radiant  dawn 
of  a  perfect  day,  when  the  brightest  visions  of  inspired 
seers  shall  become  accomplished  fact  ?     At  any  rate,  we 
are  working  along  the  line  of  the  Divine   will,  as  un- 
mistakably  declared   in   the   providence   of  God,  when 
planting  in  the  midst  of  the  peoples  churches  of  regener- 
ated men  and  women,  instructed  in  the  word  of  God,  we 
carry  to  them  the  force,  the  only  force  which  can  botli 
regenerate   and    civilize.      Regeneration,    evangelization 
first,  civilization  afterward  as  its  fruit,  if  God  will.     God 
in  the  truths  of  the  Holy  Scripture  has  committed  to  us 
the  key  of  knowledge  by  which  we  have  entered  into  the 
heaven  of  Christian   privilege  which  we  enjoy.     In  this 
sense,  he  has  made  the  expression  of  his  love  to  the  na- 
tions dependent  upon  the  fidelity  of  his  church.     In  this 
sense,  we  stand  in  the  place  of  God  to  the  heathen  nations. 
Amazing  responsibility  !     In   view  of  it,  how  acute  the 
sense  of  our  obligation  !     In  view  of  it,  are  we  not  com- 
pelled to  say  that  wJioever  neglects  or  refuses  to  obey  our 
Lord's  last  solemn   charge  to  his  church  sets  himself  to 
resist  rather  than  to  hasten  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God, 
iissumes  the  attitude  of  an  enemy  of  his  race? 
/      We  are  thus  led  to  fix  tiie  place  of  the  command  of 
i  Clirist  to  disciple  the  nations  as  a  missionary  motive.    As 
external  to  man,  it  is  a  motive  only  in  a  secondary  sense. 
I  It  can  be  a  real  motive  only  as  addressed  to  a  soul  filled 
I  with  the  love  of  God  for  sinners.     A  command  can  never 
originate  life  ;  it  can  only  guide  it  already  existing.     We 
may  galvanize  a  dead  body  to  a  semblance  of  lite  by  ex- 
ternal appliances,  but  not  so  can  we  quicken  it  to  genu- 
ine activity.     We   may  thunder  the  commission  in  the 


MOTIVES   TO    Mr5SIO::S   AMONG    THE    HEATHEN.       55 

cars  of  nominal  Christendom  till  doomsday  in  vain.     It 
will  never  be  heard  save  by  those  whose  ears  have  been 
opened  by  the  Holy  Spirit.     Quicken  the  life  of  God  in 
the  souls  of  men,  and  tliey  will  run  in  the  path  of  his 
commandments,  as  the  vine   runs  up  the   trellis  which 
guides  but  does  not  give  it  life,  covering  it  with  the  beauty 
of  its  foliage  and  the  lusciousness  of  its  fruit.     To  him   / 
to  whom  an  appreciation  of  it  has  been  given  by  Christ  1 
dwelling  in  him,  the  command  to  disciple  the  nations  is    \ 
nothing  less  than  a  transfiguration ;  it  is  a  summons  to  a    / 
fellowship  in  the  purest,  loftiest  purpose  that  ever  entered    ; 
the  mind  of  man.     Interpreted  by  the  declaration  with 
which  our  Lord  introduced  it,  "  All  authority  hath  been 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  on  earth,"  it  assures  love 
shrinking  from  her  great  task  that  this  shrinking  and 
apparently  impotent  love  is  notliing  less  than  the  infinite    i 
love  of  God  himself,  energized  with  his  infinite  power  to    \ 
love  in  spite  of  demoniac  hate  and  bitterest  opposition, 
power  to  love  even  unto  death,  power  to  continue  through 
the  centuries  to  love  until  a  rebellious  race  has  been  sub- 
jected by  self-sacrificial  love  to  her  rightful  Lord.  Lifted, 
rapt  by  this  divine  passion  of  saving  grace  above  the 
possible   plane   of  mere   human   action,  the   Pauls,  the 
Careys,  the  Judsons,  the  Livingstons,  the   Patons,  the 
Cloughs  go  forth  with  the  cross  in  their  hearts,  the  cross 
in  their  lives,  the    cross  on  their  lips,   never  doubting 
that  he  who  inspires  them  and  he  who  commands  them 
M'ill  surely  "  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged  till  he  have  set 
judgment  in  the  earth  "  (Isa.  42  :  4). 

Your  time  will  allow  me  to  mention  now  only  one 
more  incitement  of  the  great  motive  to  missionary  effort. 
That  incitement  is  the  fact  that  there  is  hidden  in  the  heart 


56  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

of  every  gift  of  God  to  us  a  meaning  and  sweetness  which 
only  reveal  themselves  when  the  gift  is  shared  with 
others.  Money  hoarded  notoriously  makes  a  man  a  miser, 
makes  a  man  miserable.  Intellectual  acquisitions  unused 
for  the  benefit  of  men  only  increase  sorrow.  Indeed,  the 
best  acquisition  is  secured  in  imparting  knowledge — a 
practical  wisdom  that  finds  its  expression  in  the  proverb, 
"  If  you  would  learn  a  thing,  teach  it."  And  in  the 
highest  realm,  the  spiritual  realm,  the  truth  to  which  we 
call  attention  has  its  supreme  illustration.  No  man  knows 
the  possible  sweetness  of  the  gospel  until  he  has  instru- 
mental ly  carried  it  to  other  souls.  It  must  be  true, 
indeed,  that'no  man  knows  anything  whatever  of  the  love 
of  God  unless  he  has  the  disposition,  at  least,  to  commu- 
nicate it.  It  cannot  in  the  nature  of  things,  be  selfishly 
possessed.  One  of  the  most  pregnant  of  our  Lord's  say- 
ings is  the  declaration  of  the  principle  of  universal  appli- 
cation :  "  It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  It 
is  more  blessed,  because  it  is  in  giving  that  we  get  at  the 
kernel  of  the  gift  to  us.  Every  parent  knows  that  if  he 
would  discover  the  superlative  flavor  of  a  fruit,  he  must 
taste  it  through  the  palate  of  his  child.  The  alabaster 
cruse  did  not  reveal  the  exceeding  preciousness  of  the  oint- 
ment which  it  contained  until  she  of  Bethany,  whose  it 
was,  poured  it  forth  upon  the  Saviour's  head  ;  then  its 
exquisite  perfume  was  for  her  and  for  all  that  were  in  the 
house.  God's  love  for  sinners,  his  most  precious  gift  to 
us,  has  within  it,  at  its  heart,  a  secret  of  blessing  for  us 
as  individuals,  as  churches,  as  a  nation,  waiting  to  be  dis- 
closed in  richness  beyond  our  higliest  thought  in  propor- 
tion as  we  obey  the  Master's  injunction,  "  Freely  ye  have 
received,  freely  give." 


V. 

THE  HOME   RELATION   TO   FOREIGN  MIS- 
SIONS. 

REV.  PHILIP  S.  MOXOM,  D.  D., 
Pastor  First  Baptist  Church,  Boston,  Mass. 

The  beginnings  of  Christianity  are  full  of  suggestions 
to  us.  We  make  a  mistake  when  we  turn  to  apostolic 
times  for  a  fixed  model  of  church  organization  or  a  fixed 
method  of  Christian  work.  We  make  no  mistake  wiien 
we  look  back  to  that  time  for  impulse  and  direction,  for 
inspiration  and  tendency. 

At  first  everything  w'as  plastic,  even  fluent.  Every 
soul  that  received  "the  good  tidings"  was  naturally  a 
missionary.  Believers,  glad  in  the  new  gospel,  went 
everywhere  publishing  that  gospel.  The  first  preachers, 
with  few  exceptions,  had  no  official  character  nor  formal 
authorization.  New  communities  were  penetrated  and 
new  churclies  were  founded  as  spontaneously  as  fields  are 
sown  with  flowers  by  the  vagrant  winds  and  the  birds. 
But  soon  system  began  to  appear.  The  gentile  world 
was  to  be  opened  to  the  gospel.  The  work  of  Christi- 
anity was  to  be  consolidated  and  made  permanent,  as  well 
as  expanded.  Men  were  called  by  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
commissioned  by  the  church  to  bear  the  gospel  into  new 
fields — to  plant  the  seeds  and  cherish  the  growth  of  the 
new  life.  Paul  and  Barnabas  are  typical  or  representa- 
tive. The  whole  church  of  Antioch  could  not  go  into 
Asia  Minor.     That  would  be  not  a  mission,  but  a  migra- 

57 


58  .  CENTENAR'S    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

tion.  The  propagation  of  the  gospel  is  too  great  and  too 
exigent  a  work  to  be  left  to  the  spontaneous  and  unguided 
impulses  of  everybody.  The  awakened  heart  requires 
and  produces  an  awakened  intellect.  Thought  begins  to 
grow  organic.  Zeal  begins  to  seek  the  discipline  and 
efficiency  of  method.  A  great  genius  arises  who  has  the 
strategy  of  a  soldier,  the  diplomacy  of  a  statesman,  and 
the  practical  constructive  energy  of  a  master  engineer. 
From  the  moment  Paul  appears  on  the  field,  appear  the 
beginnings  of  system  in  the  extension  of  the  Christiar 
faith  and  life.  As  the  real  aim  of  Christianity  slowly 
defines  itself  in  the  Christian  mind  of  that  early  day, 
the  consciousness  awakens  that  the  work  of  spreading  the 
gospel  requires  chosen,  qualified,  and  consecrated  men, 
whose  whole  business  shall  be  to  become  mouths  and 
hands — speakers  and  builders — for  the  church. 

All  cannot  do  this  work.  All  have  close  and  vital 
relations  to  it ;  but  they  must  have  special  agents,  through 
whom  the  wisdom  and  love  of  the  whole  church  shall 
speak  and  act  with  the  skill  and  method  of  minds  trained 
to  the  specific  work  of  organizing  out  of  the  chaos  of 
pagan  life  the  fair  structure  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 

Ministers  and  missionaries  arise  out  of  the  very  exi- 
gency of  the  situation.  The  distinction  between  the  pas- 
tor and  missionary  is  not  accidental.  The  former  con- 
serves what  the  latter  conquers.  To  the  whole  church 
was  given  the  commission  to  "  disciple  all  nations."  The 
church  fulfills  this  commission  by  concentrating  its  ener- 
gies in  chosen  representatives,  as  the  body  concentrates 
its  energy  in  the  eye  and  hand  for  the  accomplishment  of 
a  specific  Avork.  The  missionaries  do  not  assume  the 
obligation  of  the  church  ;    they  effectively  express  the 


THE   HOME  RELATION  TO  FOREIGN   MISSIONS.       59 

energy  of  the  church  in  fulfilling  its  obligation.  The 
missionaries  are  the  church  evangelizing.  They  are  not 
proxies  but  instruments — eyes  and  hands. 

The  growth  of  a  specific  function  in  the  church  always 
brings  a  peril — the  peril  of  separation  of  interests. 
Historic  experience  impressively  teaches  us  that  the  pas- 
tor must  be  bound  with  the  church  in  one  arterial  circula- 
tion. He  is  the  church  teaching  and  nourishing:  itself 
in  the  truths  and  life  of  the  Spirit.  The  missionary  also 
must  be  bound  with  the  church  in  one  arterial  circula- 
tion. He  is  the  church  invading  and  possessing  new 
territory,  the  church  evangelizing,  the  church  executing 
the  Great  Commission. 

A  subtle  error  often  lurks  under  the  very  question, 
"What  is  tlie  relation  of  Christians  at  home  to  missionary 
work  in  foreign  lands  ?  It  is  the  error  of  thinking,  or 
unconsciously  of  assuming,  that  missionaries  are  people 
in  some  sense  apart  from  the  church,  who  are  worthy, 
indeed,  of  our  admiration  and  sympathy,  and  who  not 
unreasonably  appeal  to  us  for  aid,  but  who  are  conduct- 
ing an  independent  enterprise  for  the  promotion  of  which 
we  have  no  especial  obligation.  But  this  is  to  deny  both 
the  vital  unity  of  the  church — a  unity  not  of  form  or  of 
creed,  but  of  spiritual  life — and  the  universal  aim  of  the 
church  as  the  means  through  which  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  to  be  realized  on  earth.  There  is  in  our  tiiought  on 
religion  often  quite  as  much  disintegrating  individualism 
as  there  is  in  our  thouglit  on  social  life. 

What  is  the  claim  that  is  on  us  for  missionary  enter- 
prise in  the  broadest  sense  ? 

It  is  the  claim  of  Christ,  who  seeks  through  his  fol- 
lowers the  salvation  of  the  world.     It  is  the  claim  of 


60  CENTENARY   .^[ISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

that  love  which  makes  service  the  supreme  law  of  life. 
It  is  the  claim  of  that  solidarity  of  the  race  which  makes 
the  whole  inescapably  participant  in  both  the  good  and 
the  ill  of  all  families,  tribes,  and  nations.  The  gospel 
integrates  men  in  thought  and  feeling  as  nature  integrates 
them  in  the  physical  order  of  organic  life. 

The  Christian  missionaries  in  foreign  lands  are  not  even 
a  mere  detachment  from  the  church  ;  they  are  the  churcli 
pushing  itself  forward  into  the  world.  They  are  not 
doing  something  on  behalf  of  the  church  for  which  they 
should  be  supported ;  they  are  the  church  doing  its  own 
duty  in  unevangelized  lands. 

If  now  we  clearly  understand  the  true  function  of  the 
church  as  the  depositary  of  the  gospel,  and  the  means 
through  which  the  kingdom  of  God  is  to  be  realized  on 
earth ;  if  we  see  that  missionary  enterprise  in  foreign 
lands  is  the  legitimate  and  inalienable  enterprise  of  the 
church,  which,  from  the  nature  of  the  case,  must  be 
carried  on  immediately  by  specially  chosen  and  qualified 
workers ;  and  if  we  realize,  not  that  these  workers  are 
simply  doing  their  own  work  nor  that  they  are  doing  our 
work  for  us,  but  that  through  them,  as  agents  and  rep- 
resentatives, as  eyes,  and  mouths,  and  hands,  we  are 
doing  our  own  work ;  if  we  clearly  realize  this,  then  \ve 
may  ask  with  profit :  "  What  in  detail  is  the  relation  of 
the  great  body  of  Christians  in  evangelized  lands  to  the 
missionary  enterprise  in  heathen  lands  ?  " 

That  relation  is : 

1.  A  Relation  of  ResjjonsibiUty.  The  churches  at  home 
are  responsible  to  God  for  the  persistent  and  faithful 
prosecution  of  this  work.  It  is  their  great  duty  to  pos- 
sess humanity  witli  the  truth,  and  love,  and  righteousness 


IHE    HOME   EEL.4T10N   TO    FOREIGN   MISSIONS.       61 

of  Christ ;  in  a  word,  to  make  Christianity  co-extensive 
with  the  territory  and  the  life  of  the  world.  Any  con- 
ception of  thi,  church's  missionary  obligation  less  broad 
than  this  is  inadequate,  and  to  rest  content  with  any  aim 
less  inclusive  than  this  is  to  be  unfaithful  to  Christ  and 
to  go  contrary  to  the  very  genius  of  Christianity. 

The  churches  at  home  are  responsible  for  the  men  and 
means  for  the  prosecution  of  this  work.  This  responsi- 
bility involves : — (1)  Search.  Workers  are  to  be  found 
who  are  ready  and  fit  to  be  the  representatives  and 
instruments  of  the  church  in  its  missionary  enterprise. 
The  search  is  upward  and  then  inward  ;  to  God,  and  then 
to  the  members  from  among  whom,  by  the  mediation  of 
the  church,  the  missionaries  are  called.  The  search  is  (a) 
prayer  to  God  "'  that  he  will  send  forth  laborers  into  his 
harvest."  Prayer  is  far  more  than  formal  j^etition ;  it  is 
the  pregnant  spirit. which  produces  workers  and  forces. 
It  is  the  strenuous  and  successful  effort  to  rise  to  the 
divine  point  of  view,  and  to  appropriate  the  divine  wis- 
dom and  power  by  which  souls  are  impressed  and 
anointed  and  made  efficient  for  the  work  to  which  God 
commands  them. 

But  prayer  for  fit  agents  of  the  church  in  carrying  out 
its  mission  is  genuine  and  prevailing  only  as  it  is  accom- 
panied by  an  expectant  and  intelligent  quest  for  those  fit 
agents.  It  is  inseparable,  then,  from  (b)  inquiry.  Atten- 
tion must  be  turned  earnestly  and  persistently  t(jward  the 
possible  workers.  The  divine  injunction  to  faith  is, 
'•  seek  "  as  well  as  "  ask."  We  pray  much  with  our  eyes 
shut.  The  attitude  is  symbolical  of  our  too  common 
habit.  The  church  asks  for  men,  and  God  answers  by 
bidding  her  open  her  eyes  and  look  for  them.  Praver  is 
G 


62  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

not  a  substitute  for  effort,  but  preparation  and  endowment 
for  effort.  In  all  the  churches  there  should  be  this  trust- 
ful, keen-eyed,  and  earnest  quest  for  men  and  women  in 
whom  and  through  whom  the  organic  Christian  life  shall 
go  into  all  the  world.  It  was  no  surprise  to  the  church 
in  Antioch  when  the  Spirit  said  :  "  Separate  me  Barnabas 
and  Saul  for  the  work  whereunto  I  have  called  them." 
It  had  its  eye  on  these  men.  But  the  consciousness  of 
the  modern  church  should  be  much  clearer  and  wider 
than  the  consciousness  of  the  primitive  church.  The 
early  Christians  grew  slowly  to  the  idea  that  they  were 
commissioned  to  possess  the  world  for  Christ,  while  that 
idea  belongs  among  the  fundamental  elements  of  our 
Christian  thought. 

It  is  clear  that  the  churclies  can  meet  their  responsibil- 
ity only  by  asking  God  for  missionaries,  and  by  seeking 
and  finding  missionaries. 

The  search  must  be  not  only  a  persistent,  but  also  a  dis- 
criminating endeavor  to  secure  those  who  by  endowment 
and  character  are  fit  for  just  this  work  of  missionary 
evangelization.  The  best  ought  to  be  the  only  tolerable ; 
for  these  missionaries  are  not  mercenaries  and  substitutes, 
but  the  very  body  of  Christ,  projecting  itself  into  far- 
lying  fields,  for  the  purpose  of  reaching  every  lost  soul, 
and  saving  the  world  by  the  gospel  and  the  indwelling 
life  of  the  Son  of  God. 

Having  found,  and  continually  finding  those  whom  the 
Spirit  evidently  calls,  the  church's  responsibility  involves 
(2)  the  hearty  and  authoritative  consecration  of  these 
chosen  ones  for  their  special  work.  "  And  when  they 
had  fasted  and  prayed,  and  laid  their  hands  on  them,  they 
sent  them  away."     Thus  simply  is  the  story  told  of  that 


THE  HOME   RELATION   TO   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.       63 

first  foreign  missionary  movement.  The  consecration  is 
twofold ;  it  is  of  the  church  as  well  as  of  the  mission- 
aries. No  ties  were  broken.  The  heart  of  the  church 
continued  to  beat  in  the  pulses  of  these  men.  Their 
troing  was  simply  an  extension  of  the  Christian  body. 
The  consecration  meant,  not  that  the  church  had  fulfilled 
an  obligation,  but  rather  that  it  had  recognized  an  obli- 
gation on  itself  which  it  was  now  proceeding  to  fulfill  in 
the  activity  and  devotion  of  representatives  who  were  and 
continued  to  be  organically  part  of  its  own  life.  The 
figure  that  represents  the  missionary  as  a  worker  lowered 
into  a  mine  by  a  rope  which  the  church  holds,  is  untrue 
by  defect.  The  relation  is  too  vital  to  be  expressed  in 
such  a  figure.  In  the  very  act  of  consecrating  and  send- 
ing forth  missionaries  the  church  says  to  them :  "  In  you 
goes  the  church  of  Christ.  This  is  not  your  work  alone  ; 
it  is  our  work  ;  it  is  the  work  of  all.  You  are  unsevered 
and  unseverable  members  of  the  living  body  that  is 
quickened  and  warmed  by  one  heart  and  guided  by  one 
Head." 

The  responsibility  of  the  churches  at  home  involves  •: 
(3)  Support.  The  missionary  life  in  heathen  lands 
always  entails  more  or  less  privation  and  hardship.  This 
is  inevitable.  But  we  at  home  have  no  right  to  increase 
the  hardship  by  any  neglect  of  our  duty ;  nor  have  we  a 
right  to  leave  unmitigated  any  hardship  that  hinders  the 
largest  fruitfulness  of  missionary  labor.  We  are  not 
engaged  in  any  cliaritable  work  of  supererogation.  Mis- 
sionary expenses  are  our  legitimate  expenses.  They 
belong  in  the  regular  budget  of  the  churches.  The  Mis- 
sionary Union  is  not  an  independent  personality,  with  its 
own  responsibility  and  obligation.    It  is  merely  the  agent 


64  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY  ADDRESSES. 

of.  the  churches  to  facilitate  the  effort  of  the  churches  to 
carry  on  tlieir  work  in  other  lands.  One  of  the  evils,  or 
at  least  disadvantages  of  organization,  is  the  attendant 
lessening  of  that  sense  of  immediate  responsibility  which 
ought  to  be  quick  in  the  mind  of  the  churches.  The 
responsible  person  is  not  the  Union  but  the  church.  We 
talk  much  about  giving  to  the  Union.  We  give  nothing 
to  the  Union.  The  organization  is  simply  the  reservoir 
that  collects  the  thousand  rivulets  of  missionary  offerings 
to  concentrate  them  in  large  streams  of  well  directed 
power. 

The  support  which  the  missionary  enterprise  demands 
from  the  churches  at  home  may  be  divided  into  personal 
and  general. 

(a)  The  personal  support  is  such  provision  for  the  wants 
of  missionaries  as  shall  be  adequate.  These  workers  are 
not  merely  to  be  kept  alive.  They  should  be  relieved  as 
far  as  possible  from  all  such  care  for  themselves  and  their 
families  as  would  prevent  them  from  putting  their  undi- 
vided energy  into  their  work.  One  does  not  tie  three 
fingers  of  his  hand,  or  embarrass  his  arm  with  unneces- 
sary weight,  when  he  puts  it  to  any  task.  The  mission- 
aries are  our  hands,  doing  the  work  to  which  we  with 
them  have  been  called. 

(b)  The  general  support  is  such  provision  of  means  as 
shall  make  work  efficient  and  conserve  its  results.  These 
means  include  books,  buildings,  printing  presses,  schools, 
dispensaries,  vehicles, — everything  that  may  serve  the 
constructive  aims  of  the  missionary.  No  expense  is  too 
great  if  higher  efficiency  is  thereby  secured.  Parsimony 
makes  waste  more  often  than  prodigality.  We  shall 
never  give  too  much.      Think  of  the  enterprise  in  which 


THE    HOME   RELATION  TO   FOREIGN   MISSIONS.       65 

we  are  engaged.  We  are  called  to  evangelize  the  world. 
We  are  commissioned  to  make  manifest  in  all  nations  the 
kincrdom  of  our  God  and  of  bis  Christ.  What  is  wealth 
for  but  to  serve  the  ends  of  that  redemptive  process  which 
is  making  the  history  of  man?  Its  chief  value  lies  in  its 
susceptibility  to  transformation  into  spiritual  force  and  its 
power  thus  to  achieve  spiritual  results.  We  own  Christ 
as  Lord.  He  is  then  master  of  our  possessions  as  well  as 
the  subject  of  our  professions.  By  every  consideration 
of  gratitude,  of  faith^  of  enduring  interest,  and  of  holy 
love  we  are  bound  to  give  to  missions  the  amplest  sup- 
port. Only  thus  can  we  honorably  meet  the  responsibility 
that  is  laid  upon  us  as  disciples  of  Jesus  Christ. 

2.  The  relation  of  the  churches  at  home  to  the  mission- 
aries and  their  work  in  foreign  lands  should  be  one  of 
sympathy.  This  is  not  pity.  No  missionary  desires  the 
pity  of  his  brethren  at  home.  His  lot  is  not  pitiable ;  it 
is  most  honorable,  and  his  work  is  most  rewarding.  But 
sympathy  he  does  ask.  What  is  sympathy?  Not  merely 
suffering  with ;  for  it  has  not  regard  only  for  sad  and 
painful  experiences.  Sympathy  is  feeling  with.  It  is 
entering  into  and  abiding  in  a  community  of  life.  It  is 
sharing  in  all  the  varying  experiences  and  emotions  and 
aspirations  and  endeavors  that  have  place  in  a  missionary 
life.  Such  sympathy  can  exist  only  on  the  basis  of  a  right 
conception  of  the  missionary  enterprise,  and  of  our  vital 
relation  thereto.  Having  such  right  conception,  we  shall 
feel  that  the  missionary's  work  is  our  work.  We  shall 
sympathize  with  him  in  his  trials  and  difficulties.  We 
shall  sympathize  with  him  in  his  attempts  and  achieve- 
ments. We  shall  feel  all  the  sad  or  joyful  pulsations  of 
that  distant  life  as  if  it  were  our  own.     We  shall  make  it 


66  CEXTENAEY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

oar  own  by  our  purposeful  efforts  to  know  the  circum- 
stances and  incidents  of  that  life ;  by  our  purposeful  love 
urging  us  into  vicarious  joy  and  sorrow  ;  by  our  purpose- 
ful solicitude  of  prayer  by  which  we  shall  present  to  God 
the  needs  and  inspirations  of  those  in  whom  we  are  ful- 
filling our  obligation  to  "  disciple  all  nq,tions." 

We  need  overcome  the  obstruction  of  physical  remote- 
ness by  establishing  in  our  minds  a  continuous  spiritual 
proximity.  By  cultivating  thus  a  conscientious  and  vivid 
sympathy  with  missionaries,  we  not  only  quicken  our 
sense  of  responsibility  for  the  work,  but  we  also  enlarge 
our  ideas  and  deepen  our  impulses  of  benevolence. 

It  is  fair  to  measure  our  sympathy  by  our  gifts,  if  we 
measure  our  gifts  by  our  ability.  To  feel  genuinely  is  to 
act. 

There  is  a  shallow  missionary  sentimentalism.  Every 
genuine  thing  seems  to  be  haunted  by  the  ghost  of  a 
counterfeit.  But  the  counterfeit  sympathy  bears  no  cost. 
It  flies  at  the  approach  of  the  contribution  box.  Action 
is  the  test  as  well  as  the  expression  of  emotion.  Sacrifice 
autlienticates  professed  purpose.  If  the  men  and  women 
who  are  our  representatives  in  foreign  lands  are  real  and 
living  personalities  to  us;  if  we  think  of  them  with  a 
sympathy  that  makes  us  sharers  in  their  experiences  and 
endeavors ;  if  we  bear  them  on  our  hearts  in  prayers  that 
throb  with  the  insistence  of  deep  and  devout  longing 
toward  God  on  their  behalf;  and  if  our  sympathy  is 
vertebrate  with  a  strong  sense  of  our  responsibility  ;  then 
our  gifts  will  be  abundant  and  our  zeal  will  be  as  ardent 
and  enduring  as  it  is  rational  and  pure. 


VI. 

HINDEANCES  AT  HOME  TO  THE  WORK  OF 
FOREIGN  MISSIONS. 

GEORGE  W.  NORTHRUP,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

Professor  in  Chicago  University  {Theological  School),  Chicago,  111. 

I  PURPOSE  to  speak  of  some  of  the  hindrances  at  home 
to  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  or  some  of  the  canses  of 
the  comparative  failure  of  the  church  to  evangelize  the 
pagan  nations.  Before  expressing  my  thoughts  on  this 
subject,  I  beg  leave  to  utter  a  word  of  a  personal  nature. 
It  is  possible  that  my  remarks  may  not  secure  the  approval 
of  all ;  may,  in  fact,  give  offense  to  some  who  hear  me. 
If  such  shall  be  the  case,  let  me  assure  you  that  I  am  not 
moved  by  any  pessimistic  spirit,  nor  by  a  disposition  to 
disparage  the  missionary  history  of  our  people.  I  am 
not  willing  to  admit  that  I  am  inferior  to  any  of  my 
brethren  in  loyalty  to  the  denomination  with  which  I 
have  been  indentified  for  fifty  years,  and  which  I  have 
served  in  a  public  way  for  more  than  a  third  of  a  cen- 
tury. The  feeling  which  I  am  most  distinctly  conscious 
of,  as  I  stand  before  you  to-day,  is  that  of  heartache  in 
view  of  the  apathy  of  Christian  peoi3le,  and  especially  the 
apathy  of  our  denomination,  in  regard  to  the  temporal 
and  eternal  salvation  of  the  vast  population  of  the  pagan 
nations.  I  have  put  the  question  to  myself  once  and 
again,  within  a  few  weeks  past :  "  What  can  be  done  to 
change  this  state  of  things — to  aAvaken  the  feeling  of  love 

G7 


68  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

and  compassiou  which  ought  to  exist  for  the  hundreds  of 
millions  of  our  fellow-men  involved  in  the  darkness,  de- 
gradation, and  misery  of  heathenism?  I  speak  in  behalf 
of  a  billion  human  beings,  for  every  one  of  whom  Christ 
died,  every  one  of  whom  has  a  place  in  the  heart  of  God, 
every  cue  of  whom  is  of  as  much  worth  in  his  sight  as 
any  citizen  of  the  great  republic.  It  is  certain  that  God 
has  done  all  that  he  could  wisely  do  in  bestowing  grace 
upon  his  people.  It  is  also  certain  that  if  they  would 
use  the  grace  bestowed  with  greater  fidelity  he  would 
give  more  and  still  more,  "opening  the  windows  of 
heaven  and  pouring  out  a  blessing,  that  there  would  not 
be  room  enough  to  receive  it."  The  speedy  evangeli- 
zation of  the  pagan  world,  and  shall  we  not  also  say,  their 
salvation,  is,  in  a  real  and  profound  sense,  in  the  hands 
of  the  church. 

1.  Among  the  causes  referred  to,  we  notice,  first,  the 
departure  from  the  method  of  Christ  in  laying  chief  stress, 
not  on  salvation  here  and  now,  the  establishment  of  the 
kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  but  on  salvation  in  a  narrower 
sense  of  the  term,  as  escape  from  the  retributions  of  hell. 
To  use  the  words  of  another  :  "  It  has  been  too  much 
the  habit  of  Christian  people,  in  looking  abroad  upon 
the  heathen  world,  to  regard  it,  not  as  a  kingdom  to  be 
conquered  for  Jesus  Christ,  but  rather  as  a  seething  sea 
of  drowning  men,  a  few  of  whom  might  be  saved  from 
the  general  wreck  by  those  whom  the  church  sent  out  on 
her  gallant  life-boat  service."  But  certainly  this  is  not 
the  conception  which  Christ  empliasizes  when  he  sets  be- 
fore men  the  object  of  their  immediate  and  supreme 
devotion.  He  began  his  ministry  by  preaching  the  gos- 
pel of  the  kingdom  of  God,  and  saying,  "The  time  is  ful- 


HINDRANCES  AT  HOME  TO  THE  WORK.      GO 

filled,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  is  at  band;  repent  ye,  and 
believe  tbe  gospel."  He  frequently  called  the  kingdom 
which  he  came  to  establish  the  "kingdom  of  heaven/' not 
because  it  is  in  heaven,  but  because  of  its  heavenly  origin 
and  nature.  The  prayer  given  by  our  Lord  indicates 
plainly  the  location  and  nature  of  the  kingdom  for  the 
establishment  of  which  he  enjoined  his  disciples  to  labor 
and  pray  :  "Thy  kingdom  come,  thy  will  be  done" — 
where?  In  heaven?  "Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is 
in  heaven."  The  objects  presented  in  these  two  clauses 
are  identical;  the  petition,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  means, 
"  Thy  will  be  done  on  earth  as  it  is  in  heaven."  The  end 
here  presented — universal  obedience  among  men  to  the 
will  of  God — is  the  burden  of  the  gospel  which  Christ 
preached,  and  which  he  commanded  his  disciples  to  preach 
to  "all  nations,"  "to  every  creature"  ;  an  end  which  in- 
cludes the  whole  duty  of  man,  and  in  the  accomplishment 
of  which  the  earth  will  reflect,  in  a  degree  beyond  human 
conception,  the  love,  purity,  and  blessedness  of  the  heav- 
enly world.  True,  in  a  few  instances,  Christ  spoke  of  the 
infinitely  diverse  destinies  of  men  in  the  future  world  ; 
"  but  for  once  that  he  spake  about  the  saving  of  the  soul, 
he  spake  fifty  times  about  the  kingdom."  Since  Christ's 
method  is  the  wisest  and  best,  in  the  measure  that  the 
church  has  departed  fi-om  this  method  it  must  have  lost 
in  religious  poM^er.  How  much  power,  in  the  way  of 
missionary  appeal,  has  the  doctrine  of  the  eternal  per- 
dition of  the  great  majority  of  the  pagan  world  ?  I  re- 
ceived a  few  months  ago  a  letter  from  a  missionary  in 
India,  accompanied  by  a  printed  appeal  to  all  evangelical 
churches,  in  which  he  states  that  while  last  year  (1890) 
fifty  thousand  heathen  had  been  rescued,  twenty  millions 


70  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

had  died,  few  of  whom  had  hoard  of  the  love  of  God  in 
Christ.  And  he  exclaims  :  "Twenty  millions  of  immor- 
tal souls  swept  into  hell  in  a  single  year!" 

It  is  probably  an  approximately  correct  estimate  that, 
during  the  missionary  year  just  closed,  twenty  million 
pagans  who  had  reached  the  age  of  moral  accountability 
have  passed  away,  the  great  majority  of  whom  never 
heard  of  the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God.  Is  there  not,  in 
this  fact,  considered  in  the  light  of  the  commonly  received 
view  of  the  Bible  relation  to  the  final  doom  of  the 
heathen  world,  a  power  of  appeal  to  the  people  of 
God  sufficient  to  impel  them  to  all  possible  labors  and 
sufferings  necessary  to  make  known  the  way  of  eternal 
life  to  every  pagan  on  the  face  of  the  globe?  Have  they 
been  greatly  moved  by  this  fact  of  overwhelming  import- 
ance? How  much  have  the  Baptists  of  the  Northern 
States,  numbering  eight  hundred  thousand,  contributed  to 
aid  in  sending  the  gospel  to  the  vast  multidude  who  have 
passed  to  the  awards  of  the  eternal  world  since  the  Union 
met  in  Chicago  (1890),  one  year  ago?  If  we  allow  to 
these  twenty  millions  their  due  share  of  our  contributions 
according  to  their  number,  it  will  appear  that  the  members 
of  our  churches  have  given,  on  an  average,  not  to  exceed 
two  cents  for  rescuing  from  hell  a  number  of  our  race 
equal  to  one- third  of  the  population  of  the  United  States. 
Is  not  this  an  amazing  fact  ?  Does  it  not  seem  incred- 
ible? Does  it  not  furnish  a  moral  demorstration  that 
the  idea  of  the  exposure  to  everlasting  punishment  of  the 
pagan  world  has  but  an  almost  inappreciable  influence 
upon  the  great  body  of  Christian  people? 

Brethren,  I  would  submit  the  matter  to  you ;  I  would 
ask  you  each  one  to  state,  clearly  and  fully  to  his  own 


HINDRANCES  AT  HOME  TO  THE   WORK.  71 

mind,  the  considerations  which  render  it  credible  tliat 
the  Baptists,  represented  by  the  Union,  believe  what  they 
profess  to  believe  in  regard  to  the  final  doom  of  the 
heathen  world,  and  yet  give  on  an  average  not  to  exceed 
one  cent  a  week,  to  send  the  knowledge  of  the  way  of 
eternal  life  to  a  billion  heathen,  and  not  to  exceed  two 
cents  to  rescue  from  perdition  the  twenty  millions  whose 
day  of  probation  has  closed  since  the  last  aniversary 
of  the  Union.  Would  it  not  seem  difficult  to  find  eight 
hundred  thousand  non-Christian  men,  of  average  natural 
benevolence,  who  would  not  give  as  much,  if  necessary, 
to  prevent  the  everlasting  misery  of  an  equal  number  of 
irrational  creatures?  Is  it  a  matter  of  wonder  that  the 
world  does  not  believe  in  hell,  or  that  it  does  not  believe 
that  the  orthodox  churches  believe  that  the  heathen  "  shall 
go  away  into  eternal  punishment !"  Do  you  say  that  for 
the  world  to  deny  that  Christians  believe  what  they  pro- 
fess to  believe  on  this  point,  is  to  charge  them  with  the 
most  culpable  insincerity — a  charge  which  involves, 
logically,  universal  historical  skepticism,  rendering  it 
irrational  to  believe  in  the  existence  of  faith  and  goodness 
among  men  ?  True,  but  we  would  inquire  if  the  charge 
involved  in  the  other  alternative  is  less  damag-ino- — the 
charge  well  grounded,  of  continued  practical  indiiference 
(jn  the  part  of  the  great  majority  of  the  members  of  all 
evangelical  churches  to  the  eternal  welfare  of  a  thousand 
million  of  their  fellow-men,  whom  they  profess  to  love,  and 
whom  they  are  bound  by  the  most  sacred  obligations  to 
love  as  they  do  themselves. 

We  would  not  have  you  misunderstand  us  at  this  point' 
— to  regard  us  as  doubting  the  reality  or  undervaluing 
the  importance  of  salvation  as  escape  from  the  retributions 


72  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

of  the  future  world.  We  believe  that  everlasting  punish- 
ment will  last  forever;  and  we  believe  this  awful  truth 
because  it  is  taught  in  the  Bible;  and  we  believe  it  is 
taught  in  the  Bible  because  it  is  a  fact  in  the  universe; 
and  we  believe  it  is  a  fact  in  the  universe  because  the  in- 
finite God,  in  the  plenitude  of  his  resources,  could  not 
prevent  its  existence,  acting,  as  it  behooves  hini  to  act,  in 
accordance  with  the  immutable  principle  of  his  holy 
nature;  and  we  believe  that  this  truth  ought  to  have  the 
same  place  of  relative  importance  in  tlie  instructions  of 
the  pulpit  which  it  has  in  the  Bible.  And  yet  we  affirm 
that  Christ  did  not  dwell  chiefly  upon  salvation  as  per- 
taining to  the  future  world,  but  as  a  good  to  be  realized 
here,  through  the  reign  of  love  in  the  souls  of  men,  con- 
straining them  to  grateful  and  self-sacrificing  labors  that 
the  will  of  God  mio-ht  be  done  evervwhere  on  earth  as  in 
heaven.  Salvation  is  deliverance  from  sin,  and  sin  is  of 
all  evils  the  essence  and  the  sum.  "It  brings  present 
disgrace  and  ruin  to  body  and  soul,  to  home  and  country ; 
it  breeds  distrust ;  it  enervates  manhood  and  Avomanhood ; 
it  incites  to  murderous  revenge ;  it  arrays  class  against  class ; 
it  kindles  the  fires  of  volcanic  social  hate ;  it  is  a  menace 
to  peace,  to  social  order,  and  to  international  amit}^ ; 
and  from  all  this  there  is  salvation  only  by  that  personal 
integrity  and  S(X!ial  righteousness  which  are  the  gifts  of 
God  to  man  through  Jesus  Christ."  Salvation  in  this 
world  involves  salvation  in  the  world  to  come;  the  king- 
dom of  God  on  earth  is  the  foundation  of  the  everlasting 
kins:dom  of  God  in  the  heavens ;  and  in  the  measure  that 
salvation  is  wrought  out  here,  and  the  kingdom  of  God  ex- 
tends among  men,  will  the  end  be  accomplished  wliich 
Christ  set  before  his  disciples  as  the  object  of  constant  and 


HINDRANCES    AT    HOME    TO    TiiE    WORK.  (6 

paramount  devotion.  The  whole  ministry  of  Christ  was 
a  ministry  of  love  to  all  the  sinful,  sorrowful,  lost  sons  of 
men.  He  avus  moved  with  compassion  for  the  multitude 
because  he  saw  them  "  in  distress,"  "  scattered  abroad  as 
sheep  having  no  shepherd,"  living  mean,  ignoble,  wicked 
lives,  ignorant  of  God  and  of  the  place  which  they  occupy 
in  his  infinite  heart,  with  latent  spiritual  powers  capable  of 
development,  with  solemn  responsibilities  of  moral  agents, 
with  features  of  the  divine  image  not  yet  wholly  effaced  and 
that  might  be  restored.  How  strongly  did  he  urge,  by 
word  and  deed,  in  life  and  death,  the  duty  of  self-sacrific- 
ing love  for  men,  not  merely  for  the  souls  of  men,  but  for 
men,  women,  and  children,  in  all  the  relations  of  life ;  and 
how  impressively  did  he  emphasize,  in  the  sublime  pro- 
gramme of  the  judgment  day,  the  decisive  importance  of 
deeds  of  love  and  mercy.  "  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  unto 
one  of  the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  did  it  ttnto  me." 
"  Inasmuch  as  ye  did  it  not  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye 
did  it  not  unto  me."  "Come,  ye  blessed  of  my  Father." 
"  Depart,  ye  cursed."  Who  are  the  brethren  of  Christ  in  this 
judgment  programme?  His  disciples?  Yes, but  not  these 
alone.  For  the  event  which  he  describes  is  that  of  the  gen- 
eral judgment,  when  all  nations,  all  the  generations  which 
shall  have  thronged  the  globe,  will  stand  before  his  judg- 
ment seat,  among  whom  there  will  be  countless  millionswho 
never  saw  one  of  his  disciples.  Tiie  brethren  of  the  Sou 
of  Man  are  "  the  poor,  suffering,  sorrow-laden  sons  of 
men,  and  the  principle  on  which  the  judgment  proceeds  is 
that  as  men  treat  those,  they  would  have  treated  the  Judge 
had  they  had  the  opportunity." 

Are  not  the  heathen  among  those  who  are  in  greatest 
need  of  the  offices  of  love  ?     Are  they  not  hungry,  fam- 
7 


74  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

ishing  for  lack  of  the  bread  of  life  ?  Are  they  not  sick, 
consumed  by  the  fever  and  leprosy  of  sin  ?  Are  they 
not  poor,  bankrupt  in  estate  and  character?  Are  they 
not  in  prison,  compassed  about  by  walls  which  they  can 
neither  scale,  nor  dig  beneath,  nor  break  through?  If 
this  great  passage  does  not  teach  that  men  are  saved  by 
works  of  love,  it  certainly  does  teach  that  a  faith  which 
does  not  produce  these  works  is  vain  and  dead,  and  that 
those  and  those  only  who  possess  the  spirit  and  do  the 
works  described  by  Christ,  are  justified  in  regarding 
themselves,  or  in  believing  that  he  regards  them,  as  his 
true  disciples.  The  question  for  us  to  answer,  as  Mr. 
Spurgeon  is  reported  to  have  suggested,  is  not.  May  the 
heathen  be  saved  without  the  gospel,  but.  Will  we  be 
saved  if  we  do  not  carry  the  gospei  to  the  heathen  ?  And 
it  may  be  confidently  affirmed  that  those  who  cannot  be 
moved  with  compassion  in  view  of  the  wrath  of  God 
which  has  come  upon  the  heathen,  will  not  be  moved  with 
compassion  in  view  of  that  which  is  to  come  upon  them  ; 
that  those  Avho  will  not  make  sacrifices  to  rescue  the 
hcatlien  from  the  hells  in  which  they  are  in  this  world, 
will  not  make  sacrifices  to  rescue  them  from  the  hell  of 
the  future  world,  which  seems  far-oif,  vague,  unreal. 

What,  then,  is  the  greatest  need  of  the  church  of  to- 
day ?  We  answer,  a  divine  enthusiasm  ;  a  mighty  pas- 
sion for  the  kingdom  of  God  on  earth,  embracing  all  the 
populations  of  the  globe — all  China,  all  India,  all  Africa, 
all  Europe,  all  America,  and  all  the  islands  of  all  the 
oceans;  a  kingdom  as  wide-reaching  as  the  manifold  life 
of  man,  involving  obedience  to  the  will  of  God  in  all 
])Oi-itions  and  relations — in  the  sphere  of  the  family,  of 
sor-ial  lif?,  f)f  business  life,  of  political  life ;  a  kingdom 


HINDRANCES   AT   HOME   TO   THE    WORK.  75 

whose  progress  shall  be  marked  by  the  gro^Ying  cousecra- 
tion  of  the  people  of  God,  the  preaching  of  tlie  gospel  to 
the  poor,  the  overthrow  of  oppression,  the  extermination 
of  drunkenness,  and  the  passions  of  lust,  and  the  greed 
of  gain,  the  destruction  of  superstition,  idolatry,  and  all 
forms  of  infidelity,  the  sway  of  truth,  and  love,  and 
righteousness  over  all  the  earth,  a  divine  enthusiasm,  a 
a  mighty  passion  of  love  and  loyalty,  impelling  the  sol- 
diers of  Jesus  Christ  to  conquer  for  him  all  the  king- 
doms of  the  globe  on  which  his  cross  of  shame  and 
agony  was  set  up,  and  from  which  he  uttered  the  cry  of 
expiring  and  redeeming  love. 

2.  We  mention,  as  a  second  cause,  the  failure  of  the 
evangelical  churches  to  apply  at  home  the  principle  of 
comity  which  they  recognize  in  their  foreign  mission 
work. 

It  is  estimated  that  there  is  on  an  average  one  or- 
dained minister  to  every  three  hundred  thousand  of  the 
pagan  population  of  the  v/orld.  There  is  good  authority 
for  the  statement  that  in  China,  and  the  population  acces- 
sible to  the  American  Board,  there  is  only  one  missionary 
for  every  six  hundred  thousand  people.  ^loreover,  there  are 
whole  nations,  numbering  scores  of  millions,  in  which  no 
disciples  have  been  made.  We  are  confident  that  all  who 
have  any  adequate  conception  of  the  interests  involved, 
will  admit  that  the  two  following  statements  are  thor- 
oughly reasonable  :  (1)  "  That  the  Christian  churches  of 
the  world  should  be  satisfied  M'ith  nothing  less  than  send- 
ing out  one  ordained  missionary  for  every  fifty  thousand 
of  the  accessible  pagan  population  of  the  world."  (2) 
"  That  no  church  ought  to  call  itself  thoroughly  aggres- 
sive and  evangelical  that  does  not  expend  for  the  support 


76  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

of  missions  at  large  at  least  one  dollar  for  every  five  it 
expends  for  itself." 

What  would  compliance  with  these  propositions  require 
of  the  evangelical  churches  of  the  world  ?  Twenty  thou- 
sand ordained  missionaries  instead  of  four  thousand,  as  at 
present;  an  immediate  reinforcement  of  sixteen  thousand, 
of  which  the  quota  of  our  denomination  at  the  North 
should  be  not  less  than  one  thousand  two  hundred,  making 
our  foreign  force  of  ordained  ministers  at  least  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred.  This  would  require  our  churches  to 
give  annually  five  times  as  much  as  the  committee  planned 
for  expending  during  the  current  year,  as  authorized  at 
the  last  annual  meeting  of  the  Union,  or  two  million  five 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  a  sum  which,  large  as  it  may 
seem,  is  four  hundred  thousand  dollars  less  than  would 
come  annually  into  the  treasury  of  the  Union  if  the 
members  of  our  churches  should  give  on  an  average  one 
cent  a  day  for  the  cause  of  foreign  missions. 

We  ask  you  to  consider  most  seriously  the  vast  relative 
waste  in  men  and  money  involved  in  the  condition  of 
things  existing  in  all  Northern  Stat^^s,  the  part  of  the 
country  represented  by  the  Union. 

To  illustrate  the  matter  which  we  have  in  mind,  let  us 
take  an  example  of  numberless  cases,  with  many  of  which 
every  one  is  familiar.  Here  are  five  fields,  each  having  a 
population  of  one  thousand  five  hundred,  and  five  evangel- 
ical ministers, — one  Baptist,  one  Presbyterian,  one  Con- 
gregationalist,  one  Episcopalian,  and  one  Methodist, — 
twenty-five  ordained  ministers  preaching  the  gospel  to 
seven  thousand  five  hundred  people,  while  on  the  other 
side  of  the  globe  there  are  twenty-five  fields,  each  having 
a  population  of  three  hundred  thousand,  and  but  one 


HINDRANCES  AT  HOME  TO  THE  WORK.      i  ( 

ordained  minister ;  twenty-five  men  preaching  the  word 
to  seven  million  five  hundred  thousand  people,  one  thou- 
sand times  as  many  as  are  under-  the  care  of  the  same 
number  of  religious  teachers  at  home.  We  ask  now,  in 
all  earnescness,  Would  it  not  be  vastly  more  reasonable 
and  Christian,  if  these  several  denominations  would 
apply  at  home  the  principle  of  comity  which  they  recog- 
nize abroad,  keeping  five  of  these  ministers  here  and 
sending  twenty  to  aid  their  brethren,  each  of  whom  is 
confronted  by  nearly  a  third  of  a  million  pagans  ?  If  it 
would  be  wrong  in  the  sight  of  God  to  put  five  ministers 
of  different  evangelical  denominations  in  a  village  of  one 
thousand  five  hundred  people  in  China,  or  Africa,  or  Bur- 
ma, restricting  their  labors  to  that  locality,  is  it  not  wrong 
and  equally  wrong,  yea,  wrong  in  a  greater  degree,  to  do 
the  same  thing  here,  while  hundreds  of  millions  of  our 
fellow-men  are  living  and  dving;  in  the  darkness  and  mis- 
ery  of  heathenism  ?  The  field  is  the  world.  The  whole 
world  is  missionary  ground.  Every  city,  every  village, 
every  neighborhood,  in  which  there  is  one  man,  or  woman, 
or  child  whois  not  a  citizen  of  the  kingdom  of  God,  is  a  mis- 
sionary field.  We  challenge  any  man  to  adduce  reasons 
which  will  approach  to  a  justification  of  the  course  of  the 
Christian  churches  in  distributing  their  forces  over  this 
common  missionary  ground — the  whole  world — in  such 
an  extraordinary  uneven  way,  putting  one  minister  in 
charge  of  three  hundred  people,  many  of  whom  are 
Cliristians,  and  another,  of  no  greater  ability,  in  charge 
of  three  hundred  thousand,  of  whom  all,  or  nearly  all, 
are  pagans.  If  the  great  evangelical  denominations  would 
act  on  the  principle  of  comity  here  suggested,  it  would  be 
an  easy  matter  for  them  to  send  an  immediate  reinforce- 


78  CEXTEXARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

ment  of  sixteen  thousand  men,  so  that  there  might  be  one 
minister  to  every  fifty  thousand  pagans ;  and  it  would  be 
an  undertaking  of  no  difficulty  for  us  to  send  our  quota 
of  one  thousand  two  hundred,  and  to  furnish  them  with 
adequate  support. 

Is  it  a  violation  of  truth  or  charity  to  say  tl^at  the 
existing  state  of  things  is  a  great  religious  scandal,  an 
oifense  against  God,  and  a  crime  against  our  brethren  of 
the  heathen  world,  sitting  in  the  region  and  shadow  of 
death,  perishing  for  the  lack  of  the  light  of  life? 

What  are  the  lessons  taught  by  these  facts  ?  What  are 
the  duties  which  they  should  impress  upon  us?  One 
duty,  and  that  of  paramount  importance,  as  clear  to  our 
mind  as  if  it  were  written  on  the  heavens  in  words  of  fire, 
is  this  :  Tliat  the  evangelical  churches  ought  to  emphasize 
strongly  all  points  of  doctrinal  agreement  and  all  methods 
of  Christian  work  in  which  they  can  unite,  coming  as 
closely  together  as  possible,  and  presenting  a  united  front 
to  the  enemies  of  God.  Consider,  we  beseech  you,  the 
most  obvious  facts  of  our  condition.  Here  are  tlie  evan- 
gelical churclies,  in  all  but  a  few  millions,  confronted  at 
home  by  three  hundred  million  members  of  two  j^owerful 
and  thoroughly  corrupt  organizations, — the  Roman  and 
Greek  hierarcliies, — and  by  vast  masses  of  men  connected 
with  no  churches,  dominated  by  sensuality,  greed  of  gain, 
lust  of  power,  and  social  distrust  and  hate — tremendous 
principles  of  evil  which  have  brought  to  untimely  de- 
struction cities  and  nations,  many  and  great,  all  down  the 
ages ;  and  abroad,  confronted  by  a  billion  heathen,  all  in- 
volved in  deepest  moral  ignorance  and  most  debasing 
superstition,  and  half  of  them  held  in  the  thralldom  of 
false  philosophical  systems  of  extraordinary  power  ;  and 


HINDRANCES    AT    HOME    TO    THE    "WORK,  79 

joined  with  these  forces,  both  at  home  and  abroad,  the 
spiritual  hosts  of  wickedness,  under  the  leadership  of  the 
god  of  this  world.  In  such  a  war  as  this,  fighting  the 
organized  evil  forces  of  earth  and  hell,  the  combined 
powers  of  ''  the  world,  the  flesh,  and  the  devil  "  united 
in  the  strongest  compacts,  shall  we  not  all,  soldiers  of 
Jesus  Christ,  stand  together  in  the  closest  relations 
possible,  help  each  other  heartily  on  the  march  and  in  the 
deadly  assault,  cheer  each  other  amid  the  fire  and  storm 
of  battle,  knowing  that  the  Leader  is  one,  the  army  one, 
the  foe  one,  the  final  triumph  one,  the  eternal  glory  one, 
— the  glory  due  unto  him  who  is  "  worthy  to  receive  the 
power,  and  riches,  and  wisdom,  and  might,  and  honor, 
and  blessing  ?  " 

But  we  hear  objections,  many  and  plausible,  urged 
against  what  some  may  be  pleased  to  call  an  impracticable 
and  fanatical  appeal. 

1.  It  is  said  that  we,  as  a  denomination,  hold  the  truth, 
the  whole  truth,  and  nothing  but  the  truth  ;  that  it  is  of 
supreme  importance  that  we  secure  the  widest  possible 
acceptance  of  our  views  at  home ;  that  we  dare  not  com- 
promise with  error  by  consenting  to  give  up  any  com- 
munity, however  small,  to  the  care  of  Pedobaptist 
churches,  etc.,  etc. 

The  question,  then,  for  us  to  consider  is  reduced  to 
this :  Shall  we  give  over  more  of  the  population  of  our 
country  to  the  Pedobaptists,  or  more  of  the  heathen 
world  to  the  devil  ?  Are  we  to  regard  the  errors  of  all 
Christian  churches,  other  than  our  own,  as  more  destruct- 
ive than  the  errors  of  heathenism  ? 

And,  then,  if  we  have  the  truth  in  its  purity  and 
fullness,  are  we  not,  of  all  Christian  bodies  in  the  world, 


80  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

under  the  greatest  obligation  to  go  to  the  regions  beyond  ? 
Surely,  the  very  fact  of  the  purity  of  our  creed  immensely 
enhances  the  claims  of  duty  resting  upon  us  to  secure  its 
world-wide  acceptance.  What  an  inspiring  and  uplifting 
event  it  would  be  to  the  whole  Christian  world,  if  we 
should  send  out  at  once  the  number  of  missionaries  sug- 
gested,— twelve  hundred, — moved  by  the  spirit  of  apos- 
tolic self-sacrifice  and  heroism,  whose  labors  might  be  the 
means,  under  the  blessing  of  God,  of  winning  to  our  pure 
faith  tens  and  hundreds  of  thousands  in  heathen  lands, 
creating  at  many  points,  as  among  the  Telugus,  Baptist 
communities  numbering  fifty  thousand  !  Furthermore,  is 
it  not  evident  that  the  fundamental  principle  of  our 
people  ought  to  constrain  them  to  go,  in  large  and 
increasing  numbers,  to  the  nations  of  tiie  pagan  world  ? 
For  the  fundamental  principle  of  our  churches,  that  of 
which  we  boast  and  in  which  we  glory,  is  loyalty  to  Jesus 
Christ,  implicit  obedience  to  his  commands.  We  discard 
and  repudiate  all  assumed  authority  of  a  human  source, 
whether  of  popes,  or  councils,  or  traditions,  or  creeds. 
But  loyalty  to  Christ,  in  order  to  be  such  in  truth  and 
not  in  name  only,  must  include  obedience  to  all  his  com- 
mands, especially  to  tliose  which  are  of  supreme  import- 
ance, among  which  stands  the  Great  Commission.  Does 
our  action  as  a  denomination  justify  or  contradict  our 
profession  of  loyalty  ?  What  is  the  command  of  Jesus 
Christ,  as  distinct  and  imperative  as  if  we  heard  his 
words  ringing  out  from  the  height  of  heaven  ?  Is  it  not, 
"Go  ye.  Baptists,  preach  the  gospel  to  every  creature, 
make  disciples  of  all  nations?"  Is  it  not  the  belief  of 
our  churches,  that  the  Great  Commission  was  given 
originally,  not  to  Presbyterians,  or  Congregationalists,  or 


HINDRANCES   AT   HOME   TO   THE    WORK.  81 

Episcopalians,  or  Methodists,  but  exclusively  to  Baptists, 
— the  very  people  of  whom  we  claim  to  be  the  only  living 
representatives?  The  first  body  of  Baptists  were  right 
loyal  to  their  Lord ;  they  went  everywhere  ]n'eaehing  the 
word ;  they  carried  the  good  news  to  all  quarters  of  the 
known  world.  How  is  it  with  the  people  known  as 
Baptists  in  the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century? 
Is  their  obedience  such  as  to  justify  their  claim  to  be  the 
true  successors  of  those  early  disciples  of  Christ?  Have 
they  discharged,  are  they  noAv  discharging,  in  any  true 
and  worthy  sense,  the  high  and  imperative  duty  imposed 
by  the  risen  and  glorified  Redeemer,  loyalty  to  whom 
they  clami  as  their  distinction  and  honor  ?  Is  it  obedi- 
ence to  the  command,  "Go,  make  disciples  of  all  nations," 
for  a  people,  numbering  eight  hundred  thousand,  to  con- 
tribute four  hundred  thousand  dollars  a  year, — on  an 
average,  one  cent  a  week, — to  give  to  a  billion  pagans  a 
knowledge  of  the  incarnate  Son  of  God,  who  loved  them 
and  gave  himself  for  them,  and  through  whom  alone  they 
can  attain  eternal  life  ? 

Brethren,  mere  profession  will  not  justify  our  claim  of 
special  loyalty  to  Christ,  nor  Avill  obedience  to  his  require- 
ments in  the  matters  of  baptism,  communion,  and  church 
government  justify  it  while  the  great  majority  of  the 
members  of  our  churches  are  in  a  state  of  mutiny  against 
the  Great  Commission,  saying,  if  not  in  words,  yet 
practically.  We  will  not  ourselves  preach  the  gospel  to  the 
pagan  nations,  nor  will  we  make  sacrifices  to  aid  others  in 
the  work  of  preaching  to  them. 

How  is  it  that  the  belief  has  come  to  prevail  so  widely 
among  all  Christian  people,  that  there  is  an  enormous 
difference,  in  culpability  and  danger,  between  disobedience 


82  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY    ADDRESc^ES. 

to  Christ  in  rejecting  what  he  requires  them  to  believe, 
and  disobedience  to  Clirist  in  disreg-arding  what  he  com- 
mands  them  to  do? 

Why  is  it  that  tiie  lieresy  of  unbelief  is  regarded  with 
such  apprehension  or  alarm,  while  the  heresy  of  inaction 
is  viewed  with  comparative  indifference  ?  Is  faith  with- 
out works  any  better  than  works  without  faith?  Are 
they  not  alike  dead  and  displeasing  to  God — equally  vain 
and  perilous?  To  the  heresy  of  inaction,  far  more  than 
to  the  heresy  of  unbelief,  is  due  the  deplorable  fact  that 
the  midnight  darkness  of  heathenism  still  envelops 
nearly  two-thirds  of  the  population  of  the  globe.  What, 
thei7,  shall  we  do  ?  The  alternatives  are :  Either  cease 
to  claim  to  be  the  true  successors  of  the  earliest  Baptist 
churches,  or  obey,  with  the  devotion  which  characterized 
them,  the  Lord's  command,  '^  Go,  preach  the  gospel  to 
the  whole  creation." 

2.  But  we  hear  another  objection  urged  with  great 
frequency  and  confidence.  It  is  said  that  the  United 
States  is  destined  to  be  the  leading  nation  of  the  future, 
that  it  occupies  a  position  of  immeasurable  importance  in 
the  world's  history ;  so  that  whatever  we  do,  or  fail  to  do, 
in  relation  to  the  evangelization  of  the  pagan  nations,  we 
must  seek,  by  all  means  in  our  power,  to  make  our  nation 
thoroughly  Christian.  What  shall  we  say  of  this  utter- 
ance, heard  everywhere,  especially  on  anniversary  occas- 
ions, in  the  pulpit  and  on  the  platform  ?  Is  it  not  largely 
an  utterance  of  national  conceit,  inspired  by  national 
pride  and  selfishness,  and  utterly  opposed  to  the  example 
and  teaching  of  Christ  and  his  apostles? 

Let  us  notice :  (1)  The  ruling  motive  force  of  Chris- 
tianity is  love ;    and  it  is  the  nature,   the   irrepressible 


HINDRANCES    AT    HOME    TO    THE    WORK.  83 

instinct,  of  Cliristian  love  to  help  the  most  helpless,  the 
deformed  in  body,  the  feeble-minded,  the  moral  refuse  of 
society  for  whom  none  care. 

(2)  Jesus  gathered  around  him  the  weakest,  the  lowest, 
the  "publicans  and  harlots,"  the  social  outcasts,  the 
nobodies  of  his  time,  according  to  the  prevailing  standards 
of  the  world. 

(3)  Does  the  Great  Commission  read,  Go  ye  therefore, 
make  disciples  of  the  leading  nations,  preach  the  gospel 
to  those  who  hold  positions  of  great  strategic  importance  ? 
On  the  contrary,  JNIatthew  and  Mark  (Rev.  Ver.),  read 
very  differently,  as  follows  :  "  Go  ye  therefore,  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations  :  "  "  Go  ye  into  all  the  world 
and  preach  the  gospel  to  the  lohole  creation." 

(4)  The  history  of  the  church  justifies  the  method  of 
Christ.  Christianity  has  won  its  most  notable  victories 
among  people  of  little  account  in  the  judgment  of  the 
civilized  nations,  as  among  the  Karens,  the  Telugu.s,  the 
Sandwich  Islanders,  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  the  British 
Isles,  who,  though  they  were  regarded  by  the  Romans  as 
too  stupid  and  brutish  to  serve  as  slaves,  have  built  up 
the  most  magnificent  empire  known  to  history — an  empire 
which  has  endured  for  a  thousand  years,  and  is  influ- 
encing now,  as  never  before,  the  thought,  and  life,  and 
movements  of  the  world. 

(5)  The  only  principle  of  missionary  strategy  recognized 
by  Paul,  the  foremost  missionary  of  all  the  ages, — as 
appears  from  the  inspired  record  of  his  life, — was  to  preach 
the  gospel  where  men  were  thickest.  And  for  the  adoption 
of  this  principle  he  had  divine  warrant ;  for  when  he  was 
at  Corinth,  the  Lord  said  unto  him  in  the  night  by  a 
vision :    "  Be  not  afraid,  but  speak,  and  hold   not  thy 


84  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

peace ;  for  I  am  with  thee,  and  no  man  shall  set  on  thee 
to  harm  thee ;  for  " — what  did  the  Lord  say  ?  Corinth  is 
a  city  of  culture,  the  eye  of  Greece,  occupying  a  position 
of  great  strategic  importance?  No,  no;  but — "no  man 
shall  set  on  thee  to  harm  thee,  for  I  have  much  people  in 
this  city." 

Oh,  brethren,  can  we  not  hear  our  Lord  calling  us  one 
by  one  by  name,  and  saying,  "  I  have  much  people  in 
China,  much  people  in  Africa,  much  people  on  all  the 
continents  and  islands  of  the  globe?"  Let  us  take 
deeply  into  our  minds  and  hearts  Christ's  idea  of  the 
people !  the  people !  the  people  !  He  accounted  man 
transcendently  great,  not  because  of  the  external  distinc- 
tions which  gain  for  him  recognition  and  honor  in  the 
world,  but  because  of  what  he  is  as  man,  the  divine 
image  in  him,  his  inherent  powers  of  intellect,  heart,  and 
will,  which  have  revealed  but  an  insignificant  fraction  of 
their  latent  energy,  even  in  the  case  of  those  who  stand 
forth  in  history  as  the  greatest  of  the  sons  of  men,  and  to 
whose  expansion  and  growth  there  is  no  goal  this  side  of 
the  infinitude  of  God.  In  Christ's  esteem,  all  men,  of 
whatever  race,  or  rank,  or  condition,  are  of  equal  worth 
in  virtue  of  their  divine  endowments  and  immortal  des- 
tination. 

The  people  have  been  of  but  little  account  in  the  past. 
It  has  been  the  great  ones  of  the  earth — emperors,  kings, 
and  nobles,  the  rich  and  the  powerful;  for  these  it  has 
seemed  that  all  things  were  made ;  for  these  ihe  people 
have  labored,  and  suffered,  and  died  like  the  beasts  of 
the  field.  But  thanks  be  unto  God  for  the  signs,  midti- 
plying  on  every  side^  betokening  the  growing  power  of 
Christ's  idea  of  the  greatness  of  man  as  man,  the  worth 


HINDRANCES    AT    HOME    TO    THE    WORK.  8o 

and  dignity  of  the  people.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that 
one  of  the  chief  causes  of  the  agitations  and  revokitions 
which  are  taking  place  in  all  Christian  nations,  working 
the  disintegration  and  overthrow  of  institutions  of  social 
and  political  wrong  which  have  survived  the  destruction 
of  dynasties  not  a  few,  is  tiie  growing  consciousness  on 
the  part  of  the  people  of  their  divine  rights  and  powers 
of  manhood  ;  their  dignity  as  moral  agents, — deep  calling 
unto  deep, — the  strivings  and  aspirations  of  the  human 
soul;  like  the  ceaseless  ground-swell  of  the  ocean,  in  re- 
sponse to  the  presence  and  quickening  touch  of  the  Spirit  of 
God.  And  as  the  Christian  idea — which  is  Christ's  idea — 
of  the  people  shall  grow  in  power  and  splendor,  it  will 
mold  more  and  more  profoundly  all  social  and  politi- 
cal institutions,  and  will  constrain  all  the  disciples  of 
Clirist  to  labor  with  equal  love,  devotion,  and  joy  for  the 
temporal  and  eternal  well-being  of  all  men,  irrespective 
of  race,  or  nationality,  or  color,  or  sex,  or  social  condition. 
But  who  knows  that  the  United  States  is  destined  to 
be  the  leading;;  nation  of  the  future,  that  the  An^lo-Saxon 
race  Avill  rule  the  coming  ages?  To  whom  has  tlie  assur- 
ance been  given  that  God  will  not  build  up  in  China  a 
kingdom  far  surpassing  in  intellectual  and  moral  power 
the  British  Empire  or  the  American  Eepublic?  Where 
is  the  prophet  who  can  foretell  the  destiny  of  the  "  Dark 
Continent,"  having  at  the  present  time  a  population  of 
two  hundred  and  fifty  millions — four  times  that  of  the 
United  States  ?  Who  can  forecast  the  turnings  and  over- 
turnings  which  shall  precede  the  coming  of  him  who?e 
right  it  is  to  reign,  and  who  shall  reign  over  all  the 
nations  of  the  earth  ?  It  is  urged  thai  certain  of  the 
pagan  nations  and  races  have  no  future,  that  they  are 
8 


86  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

worn  out,  their  powers  of  expansion  and  growth  ex- 
hausted ?  We  reply  that  the  judgment  of  those  who  thus 
speak  is  certainly  shallow,  and  probably  false,  because 
they  fail  to  estimate  adequately  the  restorative  and  re- 
creative power  of  Christianity.  The  error  is  like  that 
involved  in  the  conception  of  "  a  mechanical  world  and 
an  outside  God."  The  idea  has  widely  prevailed  that  the 
material  universe  is  a  "  closed  system," —  a  system  of 
finite  forces,  acting  and  reacting  upon  each  other,  exclud- 
ing all  Divine  causality, — its  goal,  quiescence  and  death. 
The  conception  is  fundamentally  false,  because  it  does  not 
include,  as  it  should  include,  God  as  the  universal  and 
abiding  ground  of  all  being  and  all  life,  as  immanent  and 
active  in  all  chemical  forces,  in  all  vital  forces,  in  all 
souls — "  His  almighty  will  energizing  throughout  creation, 
from  the  atom  to  the  archangel."  This  view  compels  us 
to  reject,  as  irrational  and  incredible,  the  notion  that  the 
goal  of  the  material  universe  is  quiescence  and  death,  and 
to  affirm  that,  through  the  immanent  and  energizing 
power  of  God,  it  will  abide  and  pass  on  from  lower  to 
higher  stages,  "  from  the  nebulous  matter  to  the  glory  of 
the  new  heavens  and  the  new  earth." 

But  God  is  in  history  in  a  sense  infinitely  more  real 
and  profound  than  he  is  in  the  realm  of  physical  nature  ; 
and  hence  we  believe  that  there  are  no  effete  and  worn- 
out  peoples,  no  races  whose  po^vers  of  expansion  and 
growth  are  permanently  exhausted.  For  though  the 
words  of  the  apostle  that  "  all  live,  and  move,  and  have 
their  beino;  in  God  "  declare  a  universal  fact  of  historv, 
yet,  in  these  last  times,  God  has  entered,  in  Jesus  Christ, 
into  new  and  more  vital  relations  with  mankind,  and  is 
creating  them  anew  by  his  Spirit,  awakening  and  invigor- 


HIXDPvANCES   AT   HOME   TO   THE   WOEK.  87 

ating  their  dormant  and  paralyzed  powers,  thus  enabling 
]iatious  and  races,  as  well  as  individuals,  to  enter  upon  a 
new  career,  far  higher  and  grander  than  would  have  been 
possible  to  them  before  the  advent. 

In  concluding  these  remarks,  we  desire  to  say  tliat  we 
have  spoken  as  truly  and  earnestly  in  behalf  of  the  work  of 
missions  at  home  as  of  the  w^ork  of  missions  abroad. 
The  cause  of  home  missions  and  the  cause  of  foreign  mis- 
sions are  one  in  principle  and  one  in  interest.  And, 
therefore,  along  Avith  the  motto,  "  America  for  Christ," 
but  high  above  it,  we  should  place  the  motto,  "  The  World 
for  Christ."  And  the  speediest  and  the  only  infallible  way 
to  gain  America  for  Christ  is  to  give  to  the  world's  evan- 
gelization the  place  of  supremacy,  in  labors  and  gifts, 
which  it  holds  of  right.  This  our  churches,  this  the 
churches  of  other  denominations,  have  lamentably  failed 
to  do.  The  most  general  and  conspicuous  act  of  disobedi- 
ence to  Christ  on  the  part  of  the  Christian  people  of  the 
United  States,  is  their  deliberate  and  persistent  refusal  to 
discharge  the  high  and  imperative  duty  to  evangelize  the 
pagan  nations — a  work  for  the  accomplishment  of  which, 
within  the  period  of  the  past  twenty-five  years,  their  re- 
sources in  men  and  money  have  been  ample.  It  is,  in  our 
judgment,  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  the  Baptist  churches 
of  the  Northern  States  could  have  done  and  ought  to  have 
done,  during  the  past  year,  as  much  for  the  cause  of  foreign 
missions  as  has  been  done  by  all  the  evangelical  churches 
embraced  in  the  same  portion  of  our  country. 

Brethren,  I  would  that  one-half  of  the  Baptist  minis- 
ters at  the  North  would  give  themselves  to  the  work  of 
evangelizing  the  heathen.  Disastrous  to  our  denomination 
at  home,  do  you  say  ?      Impossible.      It  would  bring  to 


88  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

our  churches  an  unparalleled  degree  of  prosperity  ;  the 
places  left  vacant  would  be  filled  by  men  called  of  God 
from  the  ranks  of  the  laity ;  ministers  of  other  denomi- 
nations would  be  won  to  us,  convinced  that  we  were  hold- 
ing the  truth  in  its  purity,  and  living  it  with  apostolic 
fidelity ;  Christians  of  other  names,  moved  by  the  power 
of  our  example,  would  obey  in  a  Avorthy  manner  the 
Lord's  final  command ;  and  this  powerful  missionary 
"movement"  would  confound  infidelity  at  home,  would 
convince  the  world  that  Christianity  is,  indeed,  what  it 
claims  to  be,  and  would  mightily  advance  the  kingdom  of 
God  in  all  parts  of  our  country. 

May  the  Divine  Spirit  enable  us  to  penetrate  to  the 
heart  of  these  great  paradoxes  in  the  kingdom  of  grace — 
that  we  save  our  life,  not  by  seeking,  but  by  losing  it ; 
that  we  become  rich,  not  by  keeping,  but  by  giving;  that 
Ave  become  great  in  moral  power  among  men,  not  by  self- 
assertion,  but  by  self-abnegation,  by  self-sacrifice,  from 
love  to  others ;  that  it  is  through  our  poverty  that  we  are 
to  enrich  the  world,  according  to  the  way  of  him  who, 
"  though  he  was  rich,  yet  for  your  sakes  became  poor,  that 
ye  through  his  povery  might  become  rich." 


yii. 

THE  APPROPEIATE   MISSIONARY    GIVING. 

EEV.  C.  H.  MOSCRIP,  D.  B., 
Pastor  First  Baptist  Church,  Rockford,  III. 

In  Matt.  10 :  8,  "As  a  gift  ye  received,  as  a  gift  impart," 
the  Bible  Union  Version  (Improved  Edition)  makes  a 
change  which  demands  a  word  of  explanation,  as  I  use 
the  words  as  the  basis  of  this  address. 

The  Greeks  sometimes  used  the  accusative  ofa  noun  as  an 
adverb.  This  was  done  in  the  case  of  the  word  for  gift.  The 
force  of  the  word  as  a  noun,  however,  was  not  lost.  In  this 
case  the  real  meaning  is  brought  out  more  clearly  by  giv- 
ing a  literal  translation,  as  is  done  in  the  version  quoted. 

This  translation  brings  out  very  clearly  the  importance 
of  method.  The  command  of  the  gospel  is  "Go.''  "Go 
and  do  many  mighty  works."  The  believer  is  to  go  and 
do  in  order  that  the  sinner  may  be  saved.  Modern 
Christianity  has  laid  especial  emphasis  upon  these  two 
phases  of  her  work.  There  is,  as  a  result,  much  going 
and  doing  and  even  giving  in  the  name  of  Christ  to-day 
that  fails  to  advance  his  cause.  AVhile  these  are  import- 
ant, the  way  in  which  they  are  to  be  done  is  equally 
essential.  Here  we  have  failed.  Here  Jesus  made  no 
mistake.  He  commands  the  twelve  not  only  to  go  and 
give,  but  to  so  go  and  to  so  give  that  those  to  whom  they 
give  shall  feel  the  gospel  atmosphere — shall  receive  the 
gospel  as  it  came  to  the  twelve  themselves.  The  real 
thing  in  Christian  work  is  elusive.     The  freshness   with 


90  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDBESSES. 

which  it  first  came  to  men  is  lost.     Christ  here  enjoins 
upon  his  disciples  the  reproduction  of  this.     They  were  to 
so  give  the  blessings  of  salvation  as  to  cause  those  to  whom 
the  blessings  came  to  recognize  that  salvation  was  a  gift. 
Eternal  life  is  a  gift.      We  are  saved  by  grace.     Free- 
dom from  sin  and  death  is  by  ransom.     It  is  because 
"  God  so  loved  the  world  that  he  gave  "  his  son  to  save  the 
lost,  that  we  are  to  make  our  giving  embody  this  wonder- 
ful fact  and  reinforce  this  divine  influence.     This  age  is 
the  dispensation  of  grace.      Grace  now  reigns.     Standing 
in  the  morning  shadovfs  of  this  the  gospel  day,  Jesus 
commands  his  servants  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  it  is 
God's  purpose  to  save  without  money  and  Avithout  price. 
Sovereign  grace  bestows  freely  the  gift  of  eternal  life  in 
Jesus  Christ.     There  are  difficulties  here.     God  is  holy. 
His  justice  knows  no  shadow  of  turning.     He  dooms  the 
impenitent  sinner  to  eternal  death.     He  is  the  stern  Judge 
who  Avill  hold  every  soul  to  strict  account  for  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body.     These  things  must  be  preached.     Can 
they  be  harmonized  with  the  doctrines  of  free  grace  ?     I 
am  sure  there  was  no  conflict  on   these   points   in    the 
eternal  counsels.     We  need  not  try  to  reconcile  them  now. 
Jesus  says,  "I  gave  you  eternal  life.     T  ask  you  to  give 
to  others  as  you  received  it.       As  it  came  to  you  it  made 
prominent  the  free  grace  of  God.      As  you  give  it  to 
others  see  that  you  make  this  truth  appear." 

We  have,  then,  as  our  theme:  The  Appropriate  Mis- 
sionary Giving  Emphasizes  the  Freeness  of  Divine 
Grace. 

1.  In  its  Revelation  of  God. 

(1)  Missionary  giving  is  a  revelation  of  God.     The 


THE   APPROPRIATE  MISSIONARY   GIVING.  91 

Christian  is  a  witness.  Every  act  submitted  to  the  in- 
spection of  the  world  springs  from  hidden  sources.  Our 
words  and  acts  show  what  these  sources  are.  We  have 
not  made  the  most  of  our  office  as  witnesses.  Our  giving 
tells  of  our  sense  of  God's  goodness.  It  shows  the 
strength  of  God's  hold  on  the  Christian's  affections.  It 
magnifies  the  power  of  God  over  the  believer.  God  is 
made  know-n  as  he  appears  to  those  who  know  him. 

(2)  God  is  revealed  in  the  reproduction  of  the  Divine 
giving.  God  is  revealed  in  the  word  first  as  the  summa- 
tion of  all  power.  To  this  is  added  the  idea  of  lordship 
as  the  outgrowth  of  the  divine  self-existence.  In  the 
New  Testament  he  is  seen  as  Father  and  Saviour.  In 
this  progress  or  growth  of  the  idea  of  God  he  passed 
from  being  simply  Creator,  or  Creator  and  King,  to  the 
idea  of  beneficence.  He  is  no  less  Creator.  He  does  not 
cease  from  the  exercise  of  his  Lordship,  but  he  presents 
himself  as  the  "  God  of  all  grace."  He  spends  himself 
that  he  may  create  man  anew  in  his  own  image.  His 
giviug  is  the  logical  result  of  his  being.  He  makes 
salvation  a  gift  because  he  so  loved.  The  present  dis- 
pensation is  the  visible  expression  of  this  divine  principle. 
The  gift  of  a  believer  in  so  far  as  it  is  right  will  exhibit 
this  law  of  the  divine  life.  It  will  imitate,  illustrate,  and 
translate  the  feeling  and  purpose  of  God.  God  is  brought 
before   the   lost   as   the   lover   of  the   soul.      Perishing 

•humanity  feels  the  reality  of  God's  love  and  the  tender- 
ness of  his  purpose. 

(3)  It  is  a  message  from  God.  God  speaks  through 
his  witness.  Modern  Christianity  has  been  dominated 
by  this  idea.  So  strong  has  been  the  tendency  that  we 
have  been  in  danger  of  thinkins:  that  this  was  all.     God 


92  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRE3SE 

has  blessed  a  faithful  witness.  He  has  multiplied  our 
work.  His  servants  have  seemed  to  lean  on  this  as  the 
secret  of  success.  There  is  in  all  our  effort  an  influence 
that  eludes  our  analysis.  God  seems  to  use  and  honor  in- 
directions. Much  that  we  think  should  yield  large  results 
comes  to  naught.  Often  the  least  thing  brings  such  large 
results.  Somehow  God  makes  his  meaning  clear.  For 
example,  Jesus  nov/here  gives  a  complete  definition  of  the 
Trinity,  nor  do  we  anywhere  in  the  word  find  an  explana- 
tion of  the  union  of  the  two  natures  in  Christ.  Still, 
from  what  Christ  has  said,  and  what  he  was,  the  early 
Christians  were  assured  that  the  Godhead  was  three  in 
one,  and  that  Christ  was  both  divine  and  human  so 
thoroughly  that  neither  destroyed  the  integrity  of  the 
other.  Now,  in  somewhat  the  same  way  the  giving  of 
the  believer  is  made  to  speak  God's  personal  message  to  a 
lost  soul. 

This  revelation  belongs  to  servanthood  and  stewardship. 
Perhaps  we  have  not  made  all  Ave  might  of  these. 
Here,  however,  some  of  Christianity's  glorious  victories 
have  been  won.  The  believer  is  a  servant  and  a  steward. 
The  things  said  are  true,  even  though  they  may  not  be 
all  the  truth. 

We  come  to  a  deeper  truth  when  we  see  that  the  appro- 
priate missionary  giving  emphasizes  the  freeness  of  grace 
because, 

2.  It  is  a  Manifestation  of  Life. 

Dr.  Mabie  has  not  only  struck  a  new  note,  but  he  has 
planted  himself  upon  and  lifted  modern  missions  to  a  dis- 
tinctly higher  plane,  when  he  says  :  "  We  must  cease  look- 
ing for  the  motive  of  missions  in  the  need  and  de2:radation 
of  the  heathen  and  find  it  in  the  Christian  heart."     This 


THE    APPROPRIATE   MISSIONARY   GIVING.  93 

is  God's  thought.  God  is  not  quite  content  that  we  should 
always  be  servants,  stewards,  or  even  ambassadors.  He 
has  called  us  to  be  sons. 

(1)  The  gift  of  grace  is  eternal  life.  Paul  says  so  in 
Rom.  6:23  :  "  The  gift  of  God  is  eternal  life  in  Christ 
Jesus."  Jesus  says  (John  10:10):  "1  came  that  they 
may  have  life."  John  says  of  Jesus  (1  :  4),  "In  him 
was  life,"  and  again  (1: 12),  "As  many  as  received  him, 
to  them  gave  he  the  right  to  become  children  of  God,"  and 
again  in  (1  John  3  :  1),  "Behold  what  manner  of  love  the 
Father  hath  bestowed  upon  us,  that  we  should  be  called 
children  of  God."  Once  more  (1  John  5:12),  "  He  that 
hath  the  son  hath  life."  The  whole  of  salvation  is  the  giv- 
ing and  receiving  of  life.  At  some  time  in  the  convicted 
sinner's  experience  God  puts  the  seed  of  the  new  life  into 
his  heart.  To  believers,  in  some  true  sense,  God  has  com- 
mitted this  work.  In  some  way  missionary  giving  is,  as 
the  Divine  giving,  an  exercise  of  life. 

(2)  This  gift  of  life  demands  the  conquest  of  the  world 
for  Christ.  The  reception  of  the  new  life  introduces  to 
new  relations.  It  is  in  its  nature  a  new  disposition.  It 
is  sometimes  said  that  a  person  cannot  be  a  Christian  and 
not  be  interested  in  the  work  of  missions.  This  is  not  the 
best  way  in  which  to  state  it.  The  believer,  made  one 
with  Christ,  a  new  creature,  has  a  new  nature,  relation- 
ships, and  purpose.  He  is  not  Christ's  pet  lamb  to  feed 
but  of  the  great  Shepherd's  hand,  but  Christ's  younger 
brother,  to  partake  of  his  power  and  to  undertake  his  work. 
AVeak,  feeble,  tottering  he  is,  but  possessed  of  Christ's 
life,  interested  in  the  same  things,  doing  the  same  M'ork. 
Having  received  the  divine  nature  he  feels  something  of 
God's  antagonism  to  sin.     His  disposition,  the  permanent 


94  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

trend  of  his  purpose,  is  to  overcome  the  world  for 
Christ.  This  is  the  thought  underlying  the  prayer,  "  Thy 
kingdom  come."  Power  to  say  "  Our  Father,"  is  son- 
ship.  Then  the  first  cry  of  sonship :  "  Hallowed  be 
thy  name."  Then  the  activity  of  sons  to  secure  the 
Father's  honor,  "  Thy  kingdom  come."  Faith,  the 
motive  force  in  sonship,  necessitates  the  conquest 
of  the  world  for  Christ.  This  is  the  demand  of 
every  converted  soul.  Efface  Christianity;  take  aM^ay 
every  Bible  ;  turn  the  churches  into  dance-houses ;  let 
wickedness  rule ;  leave  only  one  true  child  of  God  in  all 
the  earth  ;  let  that  one  be  chained  in  the  deepest  dungeon 
Rome  can  find  in  which  to  hide  her  victims  from  the  eyes 
of  men;  let  him  be  old,  decrepit,  dying;  and  yet  that 
single  child  of  God,  by  the  power  of  the  undying  faith 
that  cries  to  God,  "  Thy  kingdom  come,"  might  so  sum- 
mon the  forces  of  God  that  the  world  should  be  won  to 
him  again.  Such,  the  power  of  the  divine  life,  is  the 
force  lodged  in  the  appropriate  missionary  giving.  It  is 
life  manifested. 

3.  Such  giving  Emphasizing  the  Freeness  of  Divine 
Crrace  hecotres  a  Propagating  Power. 

Just  where  lies  the  power  of  the  Christian  life  to  repro- 
duce itself?  At  what  point  in  its  activities  does  God  add 
his  touch  to  cause  the  dead  soul  to  rise  in  newness  of  life? 
Many  answers  are  in  the  air  to-day.  jNIany  earnest  phil- 
anthropists insist  that  money,  rightly  used,  Avill  heal  ali 
human  ills.  Mr.  Stead,  the  apostle  of  the  nineteenth 
century  humanitarianism,  declares  that  there  must  be  "A 
Mission  to  Millionaires."  They  must,  for  their  OM^n  good, 
be  made  to  use  their  own  money  for  the  common  good. 
Christian    leaders  are   taking   much   the   same   ground. 


THE    APPROPRIATE   MISSIONARY   GIVING.  95 

"  ]\Ioney  is  concrete  power,"  says  Dr.  Josiah  Strong.  In 
one  of  the  most  remarkable  contributions  to  recent  mis- 
sionary literature,  viz.,  the  chapter  on  "  ]N[ouey  and  the 
Kingdom,"  in  "  Our  Country/' '  he  pleads  for  the  Chris- 
tiauization  of  this  power.  Yet  only  once  does  he  touch 
upon  the  real  element  of  power  in  Christian  missions  and 
the  true  source  from  which  to  expect  the  Christianization 
of  money.  And  here  he  sj^eaks  of  it  only  incidentally  and 
as  a  result.  He  shows  very  clearly  and  justly  that  every 
penny  of  Christian  money  should  be  used  so  as  to  honor 
God.  He  then  says  :  '' '  But,'  says  some  one,  '  that  prin- 
ciple demands  daily  self-denial.'  Undoubtedly."  He 
adds :  "And  that  fact  is  the  Master's  seal  set  to  this  truth, 
'  If  any  man  would  come  after  me,  let  him  deny  himself, 
and  take  up  his  cross  daily,  and  follow  me '  "  (Luke  9  :  23). 
In  other  words,  Dr.  Strong  says  give  as  stewards  and 
servants,  recognizing  God's  right  to  the  money,  and  by  so 
doing  reveal  him  to  the  world.  This  is  right  as  far  as  it 
goes.  The  words,  "  As  a  gift  ye  received,  as  a  gift  im- 
part," however,  introduce  a  strictly  higher  principle.  A 
servant  or  steward  does  not  administer  upon  his  own,  but 
his  Lord's  goods.  But  we  have  received  not  of  God's 
goods  alone,  but  of  his  life.  A  steward  cannot  sacrifice 
self.  This  is  a  function  of  life.  Indeed,  the  very  nature 
of  the  new  life  is  self-sacritice.  When  Jesus  uttered  the 
words  just  quoted  concerning  sacrifice,  he  spoke  of  that 
which  was  essential  to  the  Christian  life.  In  his  own  life 
and  death  he  set  forth  the  eternal  constitution  of  the  king- 
dom. He  made  the  cross  the  sign  of  real  being.  Death 
and  life,  life  out  of  death,  this  is  God's  order.     In  God's 

1  Eev.  Ed.,  p.  239. 


90  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

economy  the  freeness  of  grace  is  the  power  that  repro- 
duces life.     We  have  here  then  : 

(1)  The  nature  of  the  believer's  life.     This  life  is  from 
God  and  is  divine.     Its  deathless   purpose  is  to  honor 
God  in  the  conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ.      Its  ruling 
disposition   is  one  with  the  purpose  of  grace  in  the  heart 
of  its  author,  God.     In  virtue  of  this  purpose,  God  gave 
the  Son  to  die  that  men  might  live.      Its  effective  method 
is  self-sacritice.     The   believer  by  the  very  nature  of  his 
life  must  repeat  the  sacrifice  by  which  he  came  into  pos- 
session of  eternal  life.     As    Christ  went   down    into    the 
jaws  of  death  that  we  might  be  born  again,  so  are  we, 
though  at  an  infinite  remove,  to  enter  into  a  death  struggle 
for   the    reproduction   of  this   life  among   men.     When 
Jesus  speaks  of  self-denial,  when  we  look  upon  the  ordi- 
nance of  baptism,  when  we  read  Paul's  words,  "  I  confess 
I  die  daily,"  or,  "  1  bear  in  my  body  the  marks  of  the 
Lord  Jesus,"  when   we  think  of  the  fellowship    of  the 
mystery,  or  of  buffering  together  with  him,  we  see  the 
truth  that  death,  self-sacrifice,  self-effacement  is  the  deep- 
est principle  of  the  eternal  life  we  possess.     As  John, 
looking  at  our  victory,  says  :  "  They  overcame  him  by  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  by  the  word  of  their  testimony ;  and 
they  loved  not  their  lives  unto  the  death."     Every  step  of 
Christ's  earthly  life  is  at  once  command,  example,  and  in- 
spiration to  us  to  reproduce  for  others  the  experience  in 
which  life  began  for  us.     Self-sacrifice  is  not  an  accident. 
It  is  not  a  strange  freak  of  God's  activity.     It  is  a  mani- 
festation of  grace.     It  is  a  governing  principle  of  the 
eternal  gift  of  life.     In  its  exercise  lies  life's  propagating 
power.     In  it  God  lodges  carrying  force,  so  that  souls 
throuoh  our  struggles,  by  his  power,  are  born  again. 


THE    APrr.OPEIATE    MISSIONARY    GIVING.  97 

(2)  The  nature  of  self-sacrifice.  Our  true  giving 
must  rej^roduce  the  freeness  of  div'iue  grace.  But  in  its 
nature,  giving  is  self-sacrifice,  and  self-sacrifice  is  struggle. 

It  is  first  of  all  God's  struggle  with  u~.  It  is  the  con- 
flict of  the  divine  life  with  the  undelivered  remnants  of 
sin,  and  the  unsubdued  dispositions  of  selfishness  that 
remain  in  us.  It  is  a  repetition  of  the  experience  re- 
lated in  the  seventli  of  Romans.  It  is  God's  conquer- 
ing touch  on  our  lives,  the  Spirit's  call  to  better  things, 
the  intense  strain  of  growing  pains  as  life  seeks  to  break 
the  bands  of  death. 

It  is  also  our  struo-o-le  with  God.  God  incites  us  to 
strive  witii  him.  It  is  the  fai'-h-conflict  which  is  victory. 
It  is  the  prayer-wrestle  at  Jabbok.  It  is  the  Gethsem- 
ane  agony.  James  expresses  a  wealth  of  meaning  in  the 
words,  "  the  effectual  fervent  prayer  of  a  righteous  man 
availeth  much."  It  is  a  whole  philosophy  of  life. 
Read  it  again  as  perhaps  it  should  read :  "  The  in- 
wrought prayer  of  a  good  man  is  very  effective."  God 
brings  us  to  this  struggle  before  our  giving  is  fitted  for 
his  work. 

And  then  self-sacrifice  becomes  God's  struggle  through 
us  for  the  impartation  of  the  new  life  to  others.  In  this 
sense,  the  true  giving  is  that  exercise  in  which  life  passes 
over  from  us  to  others.  It  is  not  only  a  revelation  of 
God,  and  a  manifestation  of  life,  but  it  becomes  a  propa- 
gating power.  It  is  the  reproductive  function  of  Chris- 
tianitv. 

Brethren,  along  this  way  lies  victory.  "  When  Zion  tra- 
vaileth  she  shall  bring  fortli."  So  giving,  God  will  charge 
the  message  with  power.  In  our  abandonment  to  self-sac- 
rifice lies  the  salvation  of  a  lost  world.  This  flow  of  life 
9 


98  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

will  carry  with  it  all  the  money  needed.  When  we  rise 
to  these  divine  heights,  the  treasuries  of  Christians  will 
be  opened,  and  fragrant  as  the  box  of  precious  nard  will 
our  gifts  pass  to  the  ends  of  the  earth.  The  freshness  of 
the  divine  life  would  be  felt  as  in  apostolic  times.  Life 
offered  thus  would  be  gladly  received.  The  light  of  Him 
who  is  the  life  of  men,  would  make  the  darkest  heart  of 
heathendom  the  brightest  place  this  side  of  heaven.  "  As 
a  gift  ye  received,  as  a  gift  impart." 


VIII. 

THE  CULTIVATION  OF  PERSONAL  RESPON- 
SIBILITY. 

REV.  O.  P.  EACHES,  D.  D., 
Fastor  First  Baptist  Church,  Hightstown,  N,  J, 

The  aim  of  the  centennial  movement  is  not  the  raising 
of  one  million  dollars.  That  is  a  small  and  insignificant 
and  incidental  thing.  That  would  concern  itself  with 
pocket  books  and  columns  of  figures.  The  aim  is  and 
ought  to  be  transcendently  higher.  It  is  the  raising  not 
of  money,  but  of  men.  It  is  a  holy  endeavor  to  raise 
the  membership  to  higher  levels  of  thinking  and  living, 
to  create  wider  horizons  of  outlook,  to  beget  new  concep- 
tions of  duty  and  responsibility.  The  aim  must  be,  pri- 
marily, not  to  collect  money  but  to  cultivate  men.  "We 
do  not  need  to  add  any  new  words  to  our  language  in 
order  to  make  ten-fold  larger  members,  to  add  ten-fold  to 
the  effectiveness  of  our  members,  to  increase  ten-fold  the 
contribution  of  our  churches.  We  have  over  one  hundred 
thousand  words  in  our  language,  ready  for  use.  We 
need  not  new  words,  but  a  new  emphasis,  a  new  meaning. 
We  need  to  enlarge  the  meaning  and  force  of  that  one 
word.  Responsibility.  If  we  could,  for  twelve  months, 
see  the  length  and  breadth  and  depth  of  this  one  word, 
responsibility  (obligation)  it  would  make  a  new  era  for  us 
as  a  baptized  people,  vvould  create  a  new  view-of  old  things, 
more  men  abroad,  more  money,  more  prayer,  more  interest 

99 


100  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

at  home  in  all  the  things  that  concern  the  kingdom  of 
Christ. 

1.  The  clevelo|)ment  of  spiritual  power.  "What  shall 
be  the  outcome  of  the  present  movement,  the  twelve 
months  of  organized  effort  for  missions  ?  If  it  shall 
beget  emotion,  awaken  enthusiasm,  there  may  be  one 
million  dollars  in  the  treasury,  but  this  will  be  all.  If 
there  shall  be  a  new  conception  of  our  standing  before 
God  as  under  obligation,  of  our  standing  alongside  of 
God  in  loving  and  holy  service,  as  partners  and  fellow- 
Avorkers  in  the  salvation  of  the  world,  if  there  shall  be  a 
new  sense  of  the  pressure  from  above,  if  there  shall  be  a 
new  impelling  power  from  within,  then  there  will  be  the 
creation  of  so  much  moral  and  spiritual  capital  perma- 
nently created  for  the  missionary  enterprise.  And  this 
will  mean  the  addition  in  one  year  of  one  million  to  our 
membership.  It  was  Emerson,  the  poetic,  dreamy  Emer- 
son, who  was  talking  to  practical  farmers  about  more 
productiveness  for  their  farms.  He  said  :  ''  If  you  want 
to  double  your  farms  in  size,  to  add  another  farm  to  your 
present  farm,  plough  deeper,  there  is  another  farm  beneath." 
If  we  desire,  with  a  deep  desire,  to  double  our  member- 
ship, to  more  than  double  our  contributions,  it  will  be 
needful  to  double  the  sense  of  i^ersonal  obligation.  Per- 
sonal obligation  to  Avhat  ?  To  the  heathen  sitting  in 
darkness  and  groping  after  God  ?  No.  Personal  obliga- 
tion to  the  church  that  it  may  not  be  distanced  by  others? 
No.  Personal  obligation  to  the  missionary  cause,  illu- 
mined by  the  names  of  saintly  men  and  women,  by  com- 
munities lifted  up  from  savagery  to  holy  living?  No. 
There  must  be  personal  obligation,  simply  and  alone  to 
the  one  person^  Jesus  Christ.      Jesus  makes  salvation. 


CL^LTIVATIOX    OF    PER-ONAL    RESPONSIBILITY.     101 

aAvakeiis  love,  creates  service,  places  a  yoke  upon  the 
neck.  Jesus  Christ,  rightly  understood,  means  obligation. 
2.  The  Christ  spirit  will  beget  the  Christ  life.  The 
feeling  of  obligation,  of  responsibility  must  come,  not 
from  without,  but  from  within.  The  true  motive  for 
Christian  living,  for  Christian  missions,  cannot  be  created 
by  heaping  facts  upon  the  mind,  by  tables  of  statistics,  by 
p?.rading  the  millions  of  China  and  Africa  before  the 
imagination,  by  Ihe  knowledge  of  the  needs  of  the  people 
in  darkness,  by  the  sense  of  the  degradation  of  fellow- 
men  and  women  in  other  lands.  The  true,  abiding, 
growing,  conquering  motive  will  not  be  created  until 
there  be  formed  within  the  Christ  spirit.  Other  motives 
will  soon  lose  their  grip.  Other  motives  will  be  pitched 
on  too  low  a  key.  This  motive,  the  obligation  to  Jesus 
Christ,  the  allegiance  to  Jesus  Christ,  the  fellowship  with 
Jesus  Christ,  this  motive  will  be  an  all-controlling  and 
all-compelling  motive.  It  will  subordinate  all  other 
motives  to  itself,  it  Avill  be  unfailing  and  unfading  ;  it 
can  never  be  paralyzed.  It  was  just  at  this  point  that 
Paul  the  man  and  Paul  the  missionary  was  made.  He 
said,  uncovering  the  inmost  part  of  his  life :  "  It  is  the 
love -of  Christ  that  impels  and  compels  me,  that  puts  me 
under  bonds."  Love  changes  capacity  into  usefulness, 
opportunity  into  .achievement,  duty  into  privilege.  There 
will  never  be  the  rising  of  the  church  to  the  high  plane 
of  service  and  conquest  until  there  be  the  Christ  spirit 
within.  The  Christ  spirit  will  form  naturally  the 
Christ  life.  There  will  come  the  Christ  plan  of  life,  the 
Christ  sense  of  obligation,  the  Christ  joy  in  service. 
Then  will  come,  as  a  natural  fruitage,  the  Christ  conquest 
of  the  world. 


102  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

3.  The  Christian  is  to  be  like  Christ.  There  was  in  Christ 
a  sense  of  obligation,  of  responsibility.  He  was  in  him- 
self an  organized  obligation,  responsibility,  stewardship, 
service,  duty.  These  words  were  more  real  to  Jesus  than 
they  have  ever  been  to  the  most  devoted  man.  He  said  : 
"  I  must  be  about  my  Father's  business  ; "  "I  must  work 
the  works  of  him  that  sent  me"  ;  "•  I  came  to  seek  and 
to  save  the  lost "  ;  "  It  is  my  food  and  my  drink,  to  do 
the  will  of  my  Father."  AVhen  Peter  and  others  would 
hold  him  within  the  limits  of  Capernaum,  he  said,  I 
must  preach  the  gospel  tj  other  villages,  for  this  came  I 
forth.  Jesus  wore  a  yoke  of  service.  Jesus  was  a  con- 
suming fire.  Jesus  found  delight  in  putting  his  own  life 
under  the  burdens  of  others.  He  was  a  medical  dis- 
pensary and  a  society  for  helping  the  poor.  He  was  a 
training  school  and  theological  seminary ;  a  home  mis- 
sionary and  a  social  reformer.  Jesus  was  a  missionary 
to  men  outside  the  Hebrew  fiiith.  Tlie  very  essence 
of  the  life  of  Jesus  was  his  love  for  souls.  With 
more  than  the  earnestness  of  a  Salvation  Army  man  did 
Jesus  delight  to  win  a  soul  into  a  life  of  fellowship  with 
God.  Jesus  was  not  a  performer  of  miracles,  or  a 
teacher  of  high  moral  systems,  except  incidentally.  The 
one  sole  thing  that  made  Jesus  Christ,  without  which  he 
could  not  have  been,  was  his  absorbing  love  for  the  glory 
of  God.  The  love  for  God  made  him  in  love  for  the 
souls  of  men.  Apart  from  the  desire  to  help  men,  Jesus 
had  no  aim.  Apart  from  the  joy  of  saving  men,  Jesus 
had  no  joy.  AVhen  he  led  one  unclean  woman  up  into 
God's  light,  it  made  a  meal  for  his  soul.  Jesus  Christ  in 
the  three  years  of  his  ministry,  meant  souls.  This,  how- 
ever, is  only  a  fragment  of  the  truth.     Jesus  Christ,  in 


CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL    RESPONSIBILITY.     103 

his  present  ministry,  means  souls.  Jesus  Christ,  to-day, 
has  only  one  thought  in  his  heart  for  this  round  world, 
this  is  the  welfare  of  men.  The  providence  of  God  in 
the  world,  the  guiding  hand  of  God,  the  upholding  power, 
the  rulership  over  all  things,  all  these  reveal  God's 
thought  to  bless  and  save  men.  Jesus  Christ  is  to-day 
concerned  for  men,  their  salvation,  their  completion  in  the 
image  of  God,  their  upbuilding  in  righteousness,  their 
alliance  with  God  in  all  holy  ways.  If  Ave  could  get 
from  the  Lord  Jesus  to-day  an  answer  to  this  question, 
"What  are  you  living  for?  Avhat  is  the  motive  of  your 
life?  what  is  your  deepest  concern?"  the  answer  would 
be,  to  change  all  men  into  the  sons  of  God,  to  make  God's 
kingdom  come. 

4.  The  Christian  must  not  only  represent  Christ,  he  must 
re-live  Christ.     The  Christian  life  is  only  another  name 
for  the  Christ  life.     A  Christian  is  a  man  that  Jesus 
Christ  lives  in ;    a  man  that  Jesus  Christ  thinks  in ;    a 
man  that  Jesus  Christ  lives  througli  and  acts  through. 
And,  therefore,  the  Christian  is  to  live  over  again  in  a 
smaller  mold,  but  in  like  way  the  very  life  that  Christ  | 
lived.     He  must  have  Christ's  uplook,  to  live  for  God  1 
and  his  will ;  he  must  have  Christ's  inlook,  the  sense  of    \ 
a  mastering  passion  for  God  and  for  men ;  he  must  have   | 
Christ's  outlook,  the  life  of  yokeship  and  service.     Not   i 
in  a  pantheistic  or  mystic  way,  bat  as  a  real  and  control- 
ling power  the  Christian  men,  living  in  the  midst  of  a 
flesh  and  blood  life,  ought  to  be  able  to  say,  "  It  is  no  more 
I  that  live,  but  Christ  that  liveth  in  me."     The  funda- 
mental plans  and  policies  of  the  Christian  life  are  founded 
upon  and   molded  by  Jesus  Christ.     It  was  a  Roman,  a 
heathen  man,   who  said, ''There  is  nothing  which  con- 


104  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

cerns  man  that  does  not  concern  me."  It  was  a  noble 
saying ;  it  might  fittingly  have  come  from  the  lips  oi" 
Jesus.  The  Christian  not  only  may  say,  but  must  say, 
"  There  is  nothing  which  concerns  Christ  that  does  not 
concern  me."  It  is  not  an  incidental  thing,  therefore,  that 
a  Christian  is  a  doer  of  good,  a  helper  of  God  to  get  hold 
of  men  ,  to  get  hold  of  the  world.  Itistheveryessenceof  the 
Christian  life,  it  is  that  essential  thing  Avitjiout  \vhich  the 
Christian  life  cannot  be.  The  Christian  is  not  converted  so 
much  into  peace,  and  joy,  and  happiness,  and  gladness,  and 
rest,  as  into  service,  into  a  life  of  fellowship  with  Jesus 
Christ,  into  partnership  to  make  God's  kingdom  come. 
It  is  not  optional  with  a  Christian  whether  he  shall  be 
concerned  about  saving  men,  it  is  not  a  question  that  he 
may  vote  up  or  vote  down  at  will,  he  must  be  concerned 
about  them,  for  Christ  is  concerned  about  them.  In 
Romans  8  :  29,  Paul  teaches  that  the  design  of  the  con- 
verted life  is  not  safety,  or  peace,  or  heaven  even,  but  a 
transformation  into  a  holy  character,  conformed  to  the 
image  of  God's  Son.  It  was  said  by  Tyndall  that  some- 
where in  the  universe  twice  two  might  make  five.  If 
that  were  conceivable,  it  could  not  be  conceivable  that  any- 
wliere  a  man  may  be  an  intelligent  disciple  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  a  kinsman  of  Jesus,  witliout  being  moved  by  his 
impulses.  Every  Christian  must  say  over  again,  after 
Christ,  "It  is  my  food  and  drink  to  do  the  will  of  my 
Father  "  ;  "I  came  to  seek  and  save  the  lost "  ;  "I  must  be 
about  my  Father's  business  '' ;  "I  must  work  the  v.orks  of 
him  that  sent  me."  Because  the  Christ  life  must  be  the 
Christian's  life,  therefore  the  Christ's  work  must  be  the 
Christian's  work.  The  Christian  may  say  it  is  my  work 
because  it  is  his  work.     Martin  Luther  said  the  Chris- 


CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL   RESPONSIBILITY.     105 

tian  life  is  the  proper  use  of  the  personal  pronouns,  I, 
rae,  mine.     Assuredly  no  one  gets  into  the  secrets  of  the 
Christ  love  until  he  can  say,  "  Who  loved  me"     Assur- 
edly no  one  gets  up  into  the  altitude  of  a  true  Christian 
life  until  he  takes  Christ's  work  upon  himself  and  says, 
"  His  work  is  my  work."     And,  therefore,  what  a  Chris-  i 
tian  man  gives  is  not  charity,  it  is  not  benevolence.     He  / 
is  giving  part  of  himself,  his  money,  to  his  own  work,  his  / 
own  work  because  Christ's  work.     There  are  needed  new  j 
terms  for  the  giving  of  money  by  Christ's  people  for  \ 
Christ's  work,  for  Christ's  sake. 

5.  The  responsibility  must  be  personal.  The  pressure 
of  obligation  is  not  upon  the  church,  or  upon  the  sister- 
hood of  churches,  but  upon  the  person  for  whom  alone  I 
am,  in  strictness,  responsible,  that  is  myself.  There  are 
two  persons  to  be  concerned  in  this  great  work  of  the 
world's  evangelization,  Jesus  Christ  and  myself.  This  is 
my  work,  my  duty,  ray  responsibility,  my  obligation,  my 
opportunity.  If  the  horizons  of  others  are  narrow,  then 
Jesus  Christ  and  myself  mtist  begin  the  work  as  soon  as 
we  can,  as  best  we  can  of  bringing  the  entire  round  world 
into  subjection  to  the  Saviour.  In  the  Year-Book  of 
1893,  a'-e  enrolled  three  million,  three  hundred  and 
eighty-three  thousand,  one  hundred  and  sixty  baptized 
believers.  I  am  to  be  concerned  with  the  one  unit  of  the 
millions  that  represents  myself.  The  great  need  of  our 
churches  is  the  sense  of  a  personal  obligation.  We  need 
this  to  rest  upon  each  one.  The  responsibility  is  not  to  be 
transferred  to  another  or  to  a  society.  No  one  can  be  a 
Christ-like  Christian  by  proxy.  There  must  be  a  responsi- 
bility upon  the  churches,  not  in  spots,  but  upon  the  entire 
individual    membership.       In  the  "Christian  Inquirer" 


106  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

of  February  15,  1893,  a  Baptist  church  of  five   hundred 
members  is  reported  as  giving  one  tliousand  seven  hun- 
dred and  sixty-seven  dollars.   Of  this  amount,  nine  persons 
gave  one  thousand,  four  hundred  and  fifty  dollars;  the 
Sunday-school  gave  one  hundred  and  forty  dollars  ;  leav- 
ing the  church  at  large  to  give  one  hundred  and  seventy- 
seven  dollars.      If  there  had  been  the  ploughing  in  of  a 
sense  of  individual  responsibility  there  would  have  been  a 
larger  crop  of  contributors.     It  came  upon  the  world  a 
startling  discovery  that  the  air  so  silent,  presses  upon  each 
square   inch    with    a    fifteen-pound    pressure.      It  would 
come  upon  the  Christian  world  like  the  opening  of  a  new 
era  if  there  should   be  upon  each  confessing   Christian  a 
consciousness  of  what  the  Christian    life   really   is,  the 
pressure  of  the  Christ  life  upon  every  part  of  the  Christian 
life  for  three  hundred  and  sixty-five  days  in  the  year. 
6.  The    cultivation   of  the  sense  of  obligation.     How 
may  the  sense  of  responsibility  be  enlarged  ?     It  will  rest 
to    a   large   extent   upon    the    pastors    and    loaders    in 
Christian  work.      A  church  is,  to  a  great  degree,  what 
the  pastor  himself  is.     A  church  belongs  to  Christ,  but  it 
is  molded  and  shaped  by  the  pastor.     If  he  is  a  man 
with  a  large  sense  of  obligation,  that  sense  of  obligation 
will,  through  training,  become  contagious.     David  Brain- 
erd  lived  a  large  life  amid  little  and  seemingly  insignifi- 
cant surroundings.      He  wrote  in  his  diary:  "  Last  year  I 
.  longed  to  be  prepared  for  a  world  of  glory,  but  of  late  all 
j  my  concern  is  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen,  and  for  that 
I  end  I  long  to  live."     The  largeness  of  that  life  touched 
j   and  moved  Wilb'am  Carey.     It  touched  and  moved  Samuel 
I   J.  Mills  and  Henry  Martyn.     In  the  same  way,  to-day, 
}   a  life  touched  by  a  sense  of  love,  of  duty,  of  imperative 


CULTIVATION   OP   PERSONAL   EESPOXSIBILITY.     107 

obligation  will  influence  others  upward  into  the  same  kind  } 
of  life.  Back  of  the  church  is  the  pastor.  Back  of  the 
pastor  is  the  New  Testament.  Back  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment is  Jesus  Christ.  But  Jesus  Christ  and  the  New 
Testament  will  reach  the  church  through  the  pastor.  In 
a  church  multiplication  table  it  would  stand  in  this  way  : 
One  pastor,  in  his  molding  power,  in  his  influence,  is  equal 
to  twenty-five,  or  fifty,  or  one  hundred  members,  or  to  the 
entire  church  combined.  There  is  large  need,  therefore, 
not  of  Baxter's  reformed  pastor,  but  of  Christ's  form- 
ing and  transforming  pastor. 

For  the  development  of  the  sense  of  personal  responsi- 
bility there  must  be  a  crowding  upon  the  membership  of 
our  churches  the  essential  idea  of  conversion.  Our  pre- 
valent molds  of  doctrine  have  a  vast  deal  to  do  with 
religious  experience.  In  days  when  the  pulpit  magnified 
the  law,  every  convert  passed  through  a  deep  emotional  ex- 
perience"; each  convert  had  a  slough  of  despond  to  be  passed 
through.  We  need  to  have  this  mold  of  doctrine,  that  each 
one  converted  into  the  new  life  in  Christ  may  be  converted, 
not  alone  into  safety,  peace,  emotion,  but  also  into  service, 
into  a  personal  endeavor  to  bring  in  the  kingdom  of  God. 
One  inquiry, "  Lord,  what  wilt  thou  have  me  to  do,"  is  equal 
to  a  vast  deal  of  singing,  "  Oh,  1  am  so  happy  in  Jesus,"  as 
a  test  of  the  Christian  life.  A  small  sense  of  the  respon- 
sibility is  equal  to  a  large  amount  ©f  emotion.  There 
must  be  in  the  unwritten  covenant  of  each  church  this 
large  and  scriptural  teaching,  that  the  confession  of  faith 
in  Christ  is  inseparable  from  the  union  with  Christ  in  ser- 
vice for  souls.  Every  Christian  should  be  converted  into 
orthodoxy,  into  holy  living,  into  fervent  praying,  into 
consecrated  service,  into  holy  giving,  into  the  dedication 


108  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

of  himself  into  entire  loyalty  to  the  Lord  Jesus.     The 
Christian  life  is  loyalty  to  Jesus  Christ.     We  may  not 
pride  ourselves   on   our   orthodoxy   in    maintaining    the 
scriptural  relation  of  the  ordinances,  if  we  are  vastly  het- 
erodox in  looking  a  plain  command  of  the  Saviour  in  the 
face  and  then  disobeying  it.     The  contribution  box  is  as 
much  a  test  of  orthodoxy  as  the  creed.      Loyalty  to  Christ 
means  obedience.     Loyalty  to  Christ  means  the  higliest 
motive.     We  may,  therefore,   lay  aside  for  twenty  years 
to  come  the  appeal  to  engage  in  the  work  of  spreading  the 
gospel   from  the  number  of  conversions,  from  the  small 
cost  in  money  for  saving  one  soul  in  India,  from  the  mer- 
cantile value  of  missions.     Loyalty  to  Christ  would  lead 
to  obedience  to  Christ  if  there  were  only  one  small  island 
in  the  Pacific,  unlighted  by  the  knowledge  of  Christ.     It 
is   not   the   numbers   of  men  unsaved  that   moves   the 
Christian,  but  the  command  of  Christ.      It  is  not  success 
that  should  stimulate  the  church,  but  the  simple  wish  of 
the  Lord  that  should  impel   and  compel.       John  Eliot 
wrote  in    his   grammar    for  the    Indians,   these  words : 
"  Prayer  and  pains  through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ  will  do 
anything."     The  life  of  Eliot  seems,  at  first  sight,  thrown 
away.     The  Bible  translated  into  their  tongue,  no  one  in 
the  world  can  read  it.     The  Indiaiis  have  perished  from 
the  earth.     But  his  life  was  splendid,  is  splendid,  because 
it  was  mastered  by  Christ's  passion  for  souls.     It  grew 
out  of  a  consuming   sense  of  personal  obligation.     That 
which  made  him,  will  make  men  like  him  to-day.     We 
are  to  look  on  ourselves  as  put  in  trust  with  the  gospel. 
Every  truth  is  a  trust.     Every  opportunity   is  an  obli- 
gation.   Every  responsibility  is  a  privilege.     Every  Chris- 
tian must  regard   himself  as  a  trustee  of  Christ,  put  in 


CULTIVATION   OF   PERSONAL   PwESPONSIBlLITY.     109 

trust  with  the  ministry  of  the  Saviour  upon  the  earth. 
Three  things  lie  side  by  side  in  the  personal  life — oppor- 
tunity, ability,  responsibility.  Opportunity  says,  I  may. 
Ability  says,  I  can.  Responsibility  says,  I  ought.  Then 
the  Christ  spirit  says.  By  God's  help,  I  will. 

7.  The  expulsive  power  of  a  new  atiectiou.  What  if  our 
more  than  three  million  members  should  have  in  them  the 
spirit  of  an  indwelling  Christ,  should  be  personally  in  love 
with  that  one  commanding  Christ  above,  should  put  on  the 
yoke  of  service,  would  there  not  be  the  thrill  of  a  new 
life ;  would  there  not  be  an  aggressive  power  in  the  church ; 
would  not  the  awakened  church  drive  out  of  the  lan- 
guage such  devil's  words  as  dive,  saloon,  slum  ;  would  not 
China  and  Japan  feel  the  power  that  would  come  from 
this  increased  sense  of  responsibility?  Is  all  this 
Utopian,  is  it  but  a  day-dream  ?  Here  are  the  men  and 
the  women,  here  is  the  machinery,  here  is  the  social 
standing,  here  are  ability  and  power,  here  are  the  open- 
ing opportunities,  above  is  the  one  Christ  with  his  heart 
never  satisfied  until  he  gets  hold  of  the  world,  there 
stands  in  the  Book  the  one  supreme  command  to  en- 
lighten the  world,  there  is  on  the  heart  the  blood  of 
redemption  and  forgiveness.  There  is  needed  this,  that 
we  shall  live  up  to  the  confession  we  all  have  made, 
that  having  been  forgiven  through  the  blood  of  Christ 
we  may  be  moved  by  the  life  of  Christ.  The  sentence 
in  tlie  hall  of  the  Christian  Workers  at  Boston  is  always 
true,  "  Christ  alone  can  save  the  world  "  ;  but  he  cannot 
save  it  alone.  He  needs  the  help  of  every  confessing 
Christian,  and  that  begets  the  sense  of  responsibility. 
If  the  baptized  believers  should  get  the  meaning  of  that 
word  upon  their  lips  and  in  their  hearts,  there  would  be 
10 


110  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

a  reformation,  a  revolution.  What  tremendously  signifi- 
cant words  are  those  in  2  Peter  3  :  12  (Rev.  Ver.), 
"  Hastening  the  coming  of  the  day  of  God."  The  divine 
movements  wait  on  the  human.  Every  Christian  may 
help  to  usher  in  the  completed  kingdom  of  God,  or  he 
may  hinder.  Out  of  this  power  to  stand  in  God's  way, 
or  to  be  God's  right  hand  of  lielp,  comes  a  fearful  respon- 
sibility. One  of  the  most  inspiring  books  of  recent 
years  is  Mackenzie's  "  History  of  the  Nineteenth  Century." 
It  shows  the  amazing  advances  made  in  recent  years. 
Gladstone  says  that  the  race  has  made  more  material 
progress  in  the  first  fifty  years  of  this  century  than  in  all 
the  preceding  centuries ;  in  the  next  twenty-five  years 
a  greater  advance  than  in  the  first  fifty ;  in  the  next 
decade  more  than  in  tlie  preceding  twenty-five.  There 
must  be  alongside  this  marvellous  growth  in  the  material 
life,  a  growtli  also  in  our  conceptions  of  the  Christian 
life.  Thirteen  pounds  meant  a  vast  deal  for  the  men  of 
Carey's  time.  Enlarging  responsibility  means  for  us,  in 
our  day,  contributions  expressed  in  terms  of  a  million 
dollars  and  beyond. 

8.  The  power  of  a  personal  Christ.  If  men  can  be 
gotten  under  the  control  of  the  personal  Christ,  there  will 
be  of  necessity  an  alliance  with  Christ  in  all  things. 
Emerson  said :  "  A  personal  ascendency,  that  is  the  only 
fact  much  worth  considering."  If  we  can  get  ourselves 
and  others  under  the  personal  ascendency  of  the  Lord 
Jesus,  there  will  be  the  contribution  of  ourselves.  From 
this  will  come  prayer,  service,  money,  intelligent  interest 
in  God's  work.  Duty  will  mean  doing;  opportunity 
will  mean  obligation  ;  ability  Avill  mean  bestowal ;  needs 
will    mean   gifts.     The   great    missionary    field   of    the 


CULTIVATION    OF    PERSONAL    RESPONSIBILITY.     Ill 

world  to-day  is  the  chiii-cli,  that  it  may  get  to  know  the 
Christ  himself  in  an  intimate  Avay,  for  fellowship,  for 
service,  for  likeness  in  character.  Christ  for  us  means 
salvation.  Christ  in  us  means  holiness.  Christ  with  us 
means  fellowship  for  work.  Myself  in  Christ  means 
safety.  JNiyself  for  Christ  means  service.  Myself  with 
Christ  means  heaven.  We  need  to-day  to  be  more  con- 
cerned about  the  yoke  than  the  crown.  We  need  to  be 
more  concerned  about  getting  heaven  on  the  earth  than 
upon  getting  into  heaven  ourselves.  The  great  mission 
of  the  Christian  life  is  the  glory  of  God  in  the  salvation 
of  the  world.  The  great  motive  of  the  Christian  life  is 
Jesus  Christ  in  the  heart.  The  great  test  of  the  Chris- 
tian life  is  not  enjoyment,  but  responsibility  and  seivice. 
The  millennium  will  come  when  the  individual  Christian 
by  the  million  learns  to  say  :  "  I  am  debtor  to  every  man 
and  cause  that  needs  my  help,"  Christ  and  the  church 
workiuo;  together  are  invincible.  God  reo-enerates  the 
soul  and  presents  it  to  the  church.  The  church  must 
generate  intelligence  and  training  for  fruitful  service. 
Jesus  Christ  makes  us  free  from  sin  that  we  may  be 
bondmen  of  the  Saviour  and  debtors  to  others. 


IX. 

"  THE  SPHERE  OF  A  LOCAL  CHURCH." 

EEV.  LEMUEL  C.  BARNES, 
Pastor  Fourth  Avenue  Baptist  Church,  Pittsburgh,  Pa. 

Two  names  have  been  given  to  the  age  in  which  we 
live.  Some  have  called  it  the  "  Age  of  Missions." 
Others,  from  a  different  point  of  view,  have  called  it  the 
"  A^e  of  Electricity."  May  we  not  give  to  the  coming 
era  a  name  which  shall  include  the  main  points  in  both 
these  and  also  many  other  important  characteristics? 
May  w^e  not  call  it  the  "  Age  of  Fellowship"  ?  That  is 
the  high  significance  in  electricity.  Pittsburgh  and 
London  by  its  agency  can  hold  communication  in  a  few 
minutes  of  time.  America  and  India  can  talk  with  one 
another  in  an  hour.  Chicago  and  Boston  are  literally 
within  speaking  distance.  By  Gray's  recently  invented 
telautograph  a  man  in  Portland,  Oregon,  may  sign  his 
name  to  a  document,  and  as  he  draws  the  marks  the  same 
signature  in  ink  may  be  recorded  in  Portland,  Maine. 

Electricity  not  only  promotes  fellowship  in  the  com- 
munication of  thought  and  voice  and  handwriting,  but 
also  in  bringing  men  close  together  in  bodily  fellowship. 
AVhile  the  suburbs  of  our  cities  are  widely  spreading  out, 
they  are  by  electric  transit  drawing  nearer  than  ever  to 
the  centers.  Edison  tells  us  that  there  is  no  reason  why, 
before  long,  men  should  not  be  fired  over  the  continents 
at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  an  hour.  The 
high  significance  in  electricity  is  fellowship. 
112 


THE   SPHERE   OF    A    LOCAL   CHURCH.  113 

Now,  if  we  had  time,  "\ve  might  see  that  in  many  other 
important  departments  of  life,  the  characteristic  word  for 
the  age  to  come  is  fellowship.  What  characterizes  the 
business  world?  Vast  combinations  of  capitalists.  Fel- 
lowship !  Vast  combinations  of  workingmen.  Fellow- 
ship !  The  key- word  of  the  political  economy  of  the 
past  was  competition.  The  keynote  of  the  economy  of 
the  future  is  fellowship.  So  in  education.  You  remember 
that  Pete  Jones  was  fond  of  declaring  to  the  Hoosier 
schoolmaster  that  there  was  "  no  larnin'  without  lickin'. 
Lickin'  and  larnin'.  Lickin'  and  larnin'  goes  together." 
But  those  who  have  read  the  series  of  articles  in  the 
"  Forum  "  concerning  the  public  schools  of  our  great  cities 
to-day,  have  seen  that  the  city  of  Indianapolis  leads  them 
all  in  the  high  quality  of  its  educational  methods,  being 
so  much  in  advance  of  most  of  them  that  there  are  only 
three  other  cities  on  the  continent — one  of  those  three 
beins:  in  the  same  Hoosier  State — which  rank  in  the  class 
with  Indianapolis.  What  is  the  cliaracteristic  of  the  ideal 
educational  system  according  to  the  ''  Forum  "  critic  ?  He 
tells  us  in  other  words  to  the  effect  that  formerly  the 
ideal  was  "  lickin'  and  larnin',"  but  now  wise  teachers 
enter  into  relations  of  personal  friendship  with  their 
pupils  and  the  pupils  come  to  regard  their  teachers  as 
loving  helpers.  In  one  word,  the  new  education  is 
characterized  by  fellowship. 

What  is  our  Christianity?  The  keystone  of  it  is 
fellowship, — the  Son  of  God  in  perfect  fellowship  with 
men,  the  Son  of  man  in  perfect  fellowship  with  God. 
There  are  two  sides  of  the  arch  of  which  this  is  the  key- 
stone. Their  substance  too,  is  fellowship.  God  shares 
all  his  sood  with  men.     That  half  of  the  structure  of 


114  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

Christianity  we  have  been  trying  always  to  learn  and 
have  not  sufficiently  learned  yet.  But  the  other  half  we 
are  only  beginning  to  bring  to  its  proper  place,  namely, 
that  the  children  of  God  are  to  share  all  the  goods  they 
have  with  their  fellow-men.  I  will  not  raise  the  question 
how  far  the  lowest  kind  of  goods  is  included.  The  first 
disciples,  under  the  fusion  of  pentecostal  fire,  believed 
that  all  the  lowest  goods  were  included.  They  may 
possibly  have  been  mistaken.  But  Avhatever  Ave  say  of 
the  positive  and  the  comparative,  it  is  certain  that  all  the 
superlative  goods  which  men  possess  are  to  be  shared 
with  their  fellow-men.  The  great  New  Testament  word 
"  fellowship  "  or  "  communion  '"'  always  means  sharing. 

The  final  teaching  of  Jesus  was  simply  this.  His 
Great  Commission  was  that  his  disciples  should  not  hold 
the  goods  they  had  from  God,  but  share  with  their 
fellows,  even  unto  the  ends  of  the  earth. 

Is  it  possible  to  do  this?  Can  we  reach  out  so  widely? 
Can  we  see  so  far  ?  Can  our  hands  reach  out  what  God 
has  given  us  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ?  It  may  be  that 
the  brethren  in  Chicago,  with  their  Ferris  wheel  and 
their  other  great  advantages  for  wide  outlook,  are  able  to 
see  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  ;  but  how  can  we, — how  can 
our  little  local  church,  yours  and  mine,  not  located  per- 
chance in  one  of  the  great  cities,  but  down  out  of  sight  in 
some  Sugar  Hollow,  away  from  all  centers  of  life,  away 
from  all  mountains  of  observation  and  opportunity, — 
how  can  we  actively  share  with  all  men  to  the  ends  of  the 
earth  in  the  good  which  God  has  given  us  ? 

Instead  of  trying  to  answer  this  in  a  speculative  way, 
let  us  look  at  it  in  a  concrete  case.  Instead  of  theorizing 
about  it,  let  us  simply  try  to  see  a  church  in  a  place  as 


THE  SPHERE   OF   A   LOCAL,   CHURCH.  115 

obscure  and  out  of  the  way  as  our  Sugar  Hollow  is,  a 
single  small  church  which  has  actually  done  this  thin^ 
for  more  than  a  hundred  and  fifty  years.  If  anybody 
anywhere  has  been  able,  under  such  circumstances  as  ours, 
to  do  this,  we  can  do  it  in  our  obscure  locality,  in  our 
small  church.  You  have  already  guessed,  perhaps,  that 
the  church  which  I  have  in  mind  is  the  church  in  Herrn- 
hut.  Let  us  see  how  far  the  church  in  little  Herrnhut 
has  reached.  We  shall  have  to  fly  swiftly  to  compass  the 
horizon  of  that  church. 

We  are  in  Greenland.  At  a  glance  we  discover  that 
the  Esquimaux  are  among  the  lowest  and  most  loathsome, 
the  most  stolid  and  unresponsive  of  mankind.  After  six 
years  of  patient  teaching  and  appeal  they  do  not  show  the 
melting  of  a  single  line  in  their  hardened  faces.  We  are 
gathered  Avith  them  in  a  room  where  one  of  the  Herrn- 
hutters  is  transcribing  the  gospel  story  of  the  crucifixion. 
He  reads  it  aloud.  While  he  reads,  one  of  the  most 
hardened  of  these  frozen  faces  begins  to  melt.  The  lines 
of  stolidity  are  broken.  Soon  the  whole  room  is  filled 
with  the  manifest  and  throbbing  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  many  of  the  E.'^quimaux  are  won  to  his  love  and  his 
service. 

Fly  six  hundred  miles  across  the  straits  to  Labrador, 
and  a  similar  process  is  going  on.  Take  the  wings  of  the 
north  wind  and  fly  on  for  thousands  of  miles  down  the 
American  continent  until  we  come  to  our  own  territory. 
See  these  Herrnhutters  year  after  year  and  generation 
after  generation  seeking  to  win  the  American  Indian  to 
Christ. 

Fly  on  to  the  West  Indies.  There  come  from  Herrn- 
hut two  men,  ready  to  be  sold  into  slavery,  that  they  may 


116  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

bring  to  the  Negroes  the  fellowship  of  Christ.  One,  left 
alone,  is  tending  a  watch-fire  on  a  great  plantation  that 
he  may  earn  a  pittance  of  bread  by  keeping  guard  over 
the  property  of  the  planters,  who  hate  him,  and  he 
wonders  if  the  Herrnhutters  away  in  Saxony  have  for- 
gotten him.  Toward  the  middle  of  the  night  he  sees 
two  men  stalking  out  of  the  darkness  toward  him  and 
wonders  with  what  intent  they  are  coming.  As  they 
come  nearer,  and  the  light  of  the  watch-fire  gleams  over 
their  faces,  he  sees  that  they  are  his  brethren  who  have 
come  over  land  and  sea  to  his  help. 

We  cannot  stop  to  recount  the  long  trials  and  the  ulti- 
mate triumphs  of  the  gospel  as  brought  to  the  West 
Indies  by  this  people.  We  must  fly  on  over  into  Central 
America,  to  the  Mosquito  coast — a  suggestive  name. 
Along  the  lagoons  of  the  Mosquito  coast  these  Herrn- 
hutters have  been  winning  to  Christ  hundreds  of  men 
and  women.  Fly  again,  hundreds  of  miles  farther,  to 
the  north  shoulder  of  South  America.  Go  into  the 
woods  where  the  low  and  dark  and  degraded  natives  of 
thai  quarter  of  the  globe  are  to  be  found,  and  the  Herrn- 
hutters are  there  winning  them  to  Christ.  Stretch  the 
wing  for  a  flight  of  thousands  of  miles  across  the  Atlantic 
to  South  Africa,  and  in  two  or  three  places  in  the  dark 
continent  we  find  the  men  and  women  of  Herrnhut  win- 
ning to  Christ  men  and  women  of  Africa.  Would  that 
we  could  stop  to  listen  to  the  thrilling  stories  which  clus- 
ter about  the  African  mission  of  the  Moravians  ;  but  we 
must  fly  across  another  ocean  to  Australia,  and  here  we 
come  to  that  quarter  of  the  globe  where  our  evolutionist 
teachers  tell  us  we  must  look,  if  anywhere  on  earth,  for 
the  missing  link.     Here  are  the  lowest,  most  animal  and 


THE  SPHERE  OF  A  LOCAL  CHURCH.      117 

degraded  of  all  mankind ;  and  here  in  the  midst  of  them 
are  the  Herrnhutters,  making  known  Jesus  Christ,  and 
lifting  men  up  toward  him. 

^Ye  cannot  stop  here  ;  but  in  our  great  sweep  around 
the  globe  along  with  these  Herrnhutters,  we  must  hasten 
another  ten  thousand  miles  to  Alaska.  The  ship  comes 
only  once  in  the  year  ;  the  rest  of  the  time  they  are  shut 
away  from  all  communication  with  the  outside  world. 
There  are  two  explorers  who  never  have  heard  of  these 
Herrnhutters,  but  who  are  making  an  expedition  through 
Alaska,  and  their  guides  keep  speaking  to  them  about 
the  Kilbuckamucks,  and  they  tell  them  what  wonderful 
Avays  the  Kilbuckamucks  have ;  and  these  explorers — 
scientific  men — begin  to  think  that  they  are  on  the  trail 
of  a  new  species  of  the  genus  homo.  They  begin  to  get 
eager  to  find  what  the  Kilbuckamucks  can  possibly  be. 
Thev  must  be  a  strange  and  marvelous  people  according 
to  all  accounts.  By-and-by  they  draw  near,  and  they  are 
told  that  just  yonder  over  the  hill  they  shall  come  upon 
the  Kilbuckamucks.  AVhen  they  come  upon  them,  what 
are  they  ?  They  are  the  Moravian  missionaries,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  Kilbuck,  with  their  Indian  converts.  They  are,  in- 
deed, a  new  species  in  that  part  of  the  world — born  of 
Heaven.  The  kingdom  of  heaven  is  coming  in  Alaska ; 
it  is  coming  from  Herrnhut. 

It  is  now  tirhe  for  us  to  turn  toward  Herrnhut  itself. 
But  on  the  M'ay  we  have  to  climb  over  the  roof  of  the  world, 
as  it  has  been  called,  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  reaching 
farthest  into  the  heavens  of  any  section  of  the  globe.  We 
go  over  one  range  after  another,  each  higher  than  the  pre- 
ceding, until  we  come  to  one  so  high  that  it  is  covered  with 
snow  except  three  months  of  the  year.     Only  for  that  time 


118  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

is  it  possible  to  cross  into  the  valley  beyond.  We  take  our 
chance  and  cross.  There  we  find  the  Herrnhutters.  The 
rest  of  the  evangelical  world  has  been  piaying  that  Thibet 
might  be  opened  to  the  gospel  ;  has  been  praying  and 
praying  ;  but  while  we  prayed,  the  Moravians  have  been 
actually  standing  at  the  doors  of  Thibet  for  thirty  years 
and  knocking,  knocking,  knocking.  From  this  lofty 
perch  we  must  take  wing  again  for  Herrnhut.  But  on 
the  way  we  cannot  fail  to  halt  at  Jerusalem. 

The  Holy  City  has  become  a  storehouse  of  religious 
superstitions.  We  are  more  interested  in  religious  reali- 
ties. As  we  pass  out  of  the  city  on  our  way  to  Bethle- 
hem, and  we  see  beside  the  highway  a  great  building,  one 
of  the  finest  in  Palestine,  we  say,  "  This  must  be  the 
palace  of  the  pasha  of  Jerusalem ;  no  other  could  have 
such  a  home."  We  inquire  and  find  that  the  Herrnhutters 
have  come  here  and  built  this  great  palace.  For  whom  ? 
For  lepers :  those  loathsome  men  and  women  whom  you 
saw,  as  you  plunged  into  the  valley  of  the  Kedron  on 
your  way  to  the  Mount  of  Olives  ;  those  people  who  come 
cree})ing  out  into  the  center  of  the  road  almost  under  your 
horse's  hoofs,  and  whom  you  dare  not  try  to  describe,  or 
even  picture  again  to  yourself,  because  of  their  loath- 
someness. At  Jerusalem  the  living  Christ  is  to  be  sought 
in  the  Moravian  Home  for  lepers  and  not  in  the  church 
of  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 

Now  let  us  come  to  Herrnhut  itself,  that  we  may  see 
what  kind  of  place  the  center  of  this  world-wide  activity 
is.  It  must  be  some  great  focus  of  modern  civilization, 
from  which  lines  of  electricity  and  rail,  lines  of  financial 
and  political  influence,  are  radiating  to  every  quarter  of 
the  globe,  or  else  there  could  not  be  such  a  wide  sweep  of 


THE   SPHERE    OF    A    LOCAL    CHURCH.  119 

activity  on  the  part  of  these  people.  We  are  in  Dresden, 
where  thousands  of  Americans  spend  months  at  a  time,  but 
not  one  in  a  thousand  of  whom  ever  makes  the  little  journey 
w^hich  you  and  I  are  now  to  make.  AVe  are  reluctant  to  go, 
because  here  in  Dresden,  we  are  in  the  brightest  blaze  of 
human  art.  Elsew^here  we  have  been  wearied  with  miles 
and  miles  of  painted  canvas,  having  but  now  and  then  a 
gleam  of  life.  The  artists  who  have  been  painting  pietas 
and  other  dead  Christs  for  all  the  centuries,  have  more 
than  wasted  their  time ;  that  canvas  might  better  have 
been  sewn  into  flour  sacks  for  the  hungr}'  masses  in 
Europe,  that  paint  might  better  have  been  used  on  the 
dismal  homes  of  the  peasantry.  Here  we  are  at  last  in 
the  Dresden  gallery,  and  w^e  have  hastened  through  its 
lono;  halls  and  corridors  to  that  far  corner  room  which 
contains  by  itself  alone  the  Sistine  Madonna.  But  we  are 
out  of  patience,  we  do  not  believe  in  it,  it  is  only  a  "  fad," 
Ave  say ;  people  must  have  some  picture  which  they  call 
the  greatest  in  the  world  and  they  have  taken  a  notion  to 
call  this  the  greatest.  Look  at  that  green  curtain  the 
artist  painted  there  !  Is  it  not  as  we  thought,  simply  the 
most  famous  waste  of  canvas  and  paint?  We  glance  at 
it  once  in  a  while,  then  we  glance  at  it  twice  in  a  while  j 
then  our  eyes  begin-  to  hold  themselves  to  it,  and  we  forget 
the  green  hangings  which  the  artist  painted,  we  forget  the 
clouds,  the  robes,  and  even  the  cherubs,  and  our  eyes  cen- 
ter on  the  eyes  of  the  mother  of  our  Lord,  and  Ave  find 
ourselves  entranced.  The  master  has  almost  put  soul  and 
spirit  into  the  canvas,  and  we  can  hardly  leave  it.  We  re- 
turn to  it  again  and  again. 

From  the  Dresden  gallery  and  its  Sistine  Madonna  we 
start   for  Herrnhut.       We   go    fortv  miles    east   on  the 


120  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

railroad  and  then  change  cars.  "  What  train  shall  1  take? 
This  one?"  "  No,  yonder  is  the  train  for  Herrnhut." 
Tlie  train  !  I  see  no  train.  That  thing  ?  There  is  a 
little  time  before  it  starts,  so  you  inspect  it.  It  is  a  unique 
structure.  Here  is  a  tiny  first-class  compartment,  empty. 
Next  is  a  second-class  compartment.  But  we  are  in 
Germany,  there  must  be  a  third-class  for  actual  use. 
Yes,  our  conveyance  is  a  double-decker,  the  whole  second 
story  is  third-class.  And  -where  is  the  baggage  car? 
That  is  in  another  part  of  the  same  structure,  first  story. 
Well,  then,  where  is  the  locomotive  ?  A  little  farther 
along  in  the  same  concern  is  the  locomotive.  I  thought 
I  was  going  to  the  center  of  the  world's  widest  enterprise, 
but  I  must  be  going  to  "  the  jumping-ofF  place."  It  is  so 
unimportant  a  corner  of  the  earth  that  the  whole  estab- 
lishment for  conveying  people  back  and  forth  is  this  one 
vehicle,  which  is  three  classes,  and  baggage,  and  express, 
and  mail,  and  locomotive  altogether.  We  take  it  and  go 
nine  miles  to  the  end  of  the  track.  It  is  a  very  hot  day, 
and  the  friend  with  us  cannot  walk  three-quarters  of  a 
mile  to  the  village ;  a  carriage  must  be  had,  but  there  is 
no  carriage  here.  "  We  must  have  a  carriage."  So  off 
they  go  to  tackle  up  a  rusty  concern  which  after  a  long 
time  comes  for  us.  If  auybody  goes  to  Herrnhut  he  is 
expected  to  walk.  They  do  not  ride  in  Herrnhut.  At 
last  we  reach  the  little  hotel  owned  by  the  community. 
I  wish  we  had  time  to  look  at  its  sanded  floor  and  all  its 
antique,  grandmotherly  simplicity  and  deliglit.  In  the 
early  morning,  we  stroll  along  a  quiet  street  of  cottages 
and  come  to  a  building  of  archives,  Moravian  archives, 
and  the  kindly  old  custodian  takes  us  into  a  room  lined 
with  simple  cases  having  unpainted  deal  doors.     He  opens 


THE   SPHERE    OF    A    LOCAL    CHURCH.  121 

them,  and  we  see  the  archives  of  one  hundred  and  sixty 
years  of  Moravian  history.  The  mere  labels  on  the  cases, 
with  their  mighty  sweep  of  contents,  make  one's  blood 
jump  and  his  nerves  actually  tingle.  "  Greenland,  Lab- 
rador, United  States,  West  Indies,  Surinam,  South  Africa, 
Australia,  Thibet,  Alaska,  Jerusalem  !''  Here  we  are  iu 
the  midst  of  the  records  of  the  gigantic  fellowship  of  this 
tiny  village  of  Herrnhut  with  the  ends  of  the  earth.  "We 
go  over  next  to  Zinzendorf 's  house,  in  an  upper  room  of 
which  the  Board  which  controls  this  world-wide  work  has 
held  its  sessions  for  one  hundred  years.  That  Board  is  in 
session,  as  it  is  nearly  every  week-day  in  the  year,  but 
behind  two  separated  and  carefully  locked  doors,  so 
jealously  do  they  guard  their  work.  Meantime,  till  you 
can  get  an  opportunity  for  a  long,  never-to-be-forgotten 
conversation  with  one  of  the  kindly  managers  of  the 
stupendous  Moravian  enterprise,  you  stroll  about  the  vil- 
lage. What  kind  of  a  place  is  it,  this  place  which  has  such 
a  scope  of  energy  that  it  reaches  out  and  takes  hold  of  the 
Himalaya  mountains  and  the  Arctic  circle  and  the  tropic 
regions  and  shakes  the  whole  earth.  Here  is  one  of  the 
inhabitants  coming  out  of  her  thatched-roof  cottage,  a 
poor  old  woman,  with  a  common  sun-bonnet  thrown  back 
from  a  wrinkled  face,  with  no  shoes  on  her  feet,  but  only 
sandals.  She  seems  a  fair  specimen  of  the  earthly  estate 
of  the  whole  community.  But  as  you  look  into  her  face 
you  see  that  there  is  something  more  than  a  peasant  here, 
that  here  is  one,  who,  like  the  sandalled  One  of  Nazareth, 
has  shining  in  the  lines  of  the  face  the  spirit  of  Almighty 
God,  sharing  with  all  the  needy  world.  You  remem- 
ber that  perhaps  this  woman  was  once  a  missionary  in 
Africa  or  in  Thibet,  or  that  perchance  at  this  moment  she 
11 


122  CEXTEXARY    MISSIONARY    ADDUE-SES. 

has  a  son  or  a  daughter  in  some  other  quarter  of  the  glohe, 
and  you  say  to  yourself,  I  am  glad  I  left  even  the  Sistine 
Madonna  to  come  here,  because  here  I  see,  not  painted 
canvas,  but  living  flesh  and  blood,  which  throbs  with  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.  You  begin  to  see  how  it  is 
that  little  Herrnhut  touches  the  ends  of  the  earth  in  its 
mighty  energy.  It  is  not  by  wealth,  not  by  great  learn- 
ing, not  by  vast  facilities,  but  by  personal  devotion. 
There  is  no  Eiffel  tower  here,  or  Ferris  wheel,  from  which 
to  get  a  wide  outlook,  and  yet  the  horizon  of  Herrnhut 
is  as  wide  as  a  great  circle  of  the  globe. 

How  have  ihey  done  it?    Listen  to  two  instances  only. 
At  the  very  ])eginning,  a  carpenter  and  a  potter  are  dig- 
ging in  the  ground.     A  Negro  has  come  from  the  West 
Indies  and  told  of  the  degradation  of  his  fellow-blacks 
there.     It  is  in  the  heart  of  each  of  these  men,  "  I  wish 
I  could  go."     They  have  no  money  ;  there  is  no  mission- 
ary society.     They  dare  not  speak  to  each  other  of  such  a 
wild  project  at  first,  but  by-and-by  one  hints  at  it  and 
then  the  other  says,  "That  was  in  my  heart  too."     These 
two  young  men  drop  their  tools  for  a  minute  and  kneel 
down  on  the  ground,  and  say,  "  O  God,  let  us  go  to  the 
West  Indies  to  preach  (he  gospel.     Wc  are  ready  to  go 
into  slavery,  if  need  be."     They  soon  presented  a  written 
appeal  to  the  elders  of  the  church  to  let  them  go.     The 
elders  and  the  church  read  the  appeal  and  shook  their 
Avise  heads,  saying  :  "  These  young  men  are  too  rash.     Vie 
must  take  time  to  think  of  it."     And  they  took  months 
to  think  of  it,  but  by-and-by  they  said,  "  You  may  go." 
The  two  young  men  start  with  a  trifle  over  three  dollars 
each  in  their  pockets.    How?    On  foot.    Their  baggage? 


THE    SPHERE    OF    A    LOCAL    CHURCH.  123 

Packs  on  their  backs.  Their  first  destination  ?  Copen- 
haj^en,  six  hundred  miles  away.  Every  person  with 
whom  they  tallv ,  in  all  the  weary  six  hundred  miles, 
except  one  devout  woman,  discourages  them  and  savs, 
"  You  are  foolish,  go  back  home."  And  when  they 
reach  Copenhagen,  people  say  the  same.  At  last  they 
secure  passage  to  the  West  Indies.  How  do  they  go  ? 
In  a  first-class  cabin?  In  a  second-class?  No,  they  go 
in  the  hold,  so  cramped  for  space  that  they  cannot  even 
sit,  to  say  nothing  of  standing  erect,  the  whole,  long, 
wearisome  voyage.  These  young  men  are  able  to  reach 
in  holy  fellowship  the  ends  of  the  earth,  not  with  money, 
not  with  learning,  not  with  the  facilities  of  advanced 
civilization,  but  simply  with  the  spirit  of  Jesus  Christ 
put  in  practice. 

Recently,  the  man  and  his  wife  in  Jerusalem  in  charge 
of  the  home  for  lepers,  after  seventeen  years  of  toil,  are 
Avorn  out.  It  is  a  loathsome  and  nearly  hopeless  Avork. 
Say  nothing  of  the  physical  stench  which  pertains  to 
lepers,  none  of  whom  can  ever  be  cured,  think  of  the 
fact  that  not  one  of  them  after  six  years  of  teaching  was 
able  to  learn  even  the  alphabet,  so  degraded  and 
benumbed  were  their  mental  faculties.  The  appeal  is 
made  for  somebody  to  go  into  this  living  tomb.  Three 
are  called  for.  Immediately  twelve  Moravian  young 
women  say  :  "  Here  am  I ;  send  me." 

It  is  not  standing  on  some  vantage  of  earthly  power 
that  gives  a  local  church  a  Avide  sphere  of  fellowship,  it 
is  the  spirit  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  in  each  one  of  its 
members  and  in  all  of  them  together.  Oh,  that  Ave  might 
be  sealed  with  the  Moravian  seal !  Its  device  is  a  lamb 
holding  a  crosb,  significantly  the  resurrection  cross,  and 


124  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

on  that  cross  is  a  banner  of  victory,  and  the  motto 
inscribed  is  this  :  ''  Oar  Lamb  has  conquered.  Him  let 
us  follow."  Our  Lamb  has  conquered.  Him  let  lis 
follow. 


X. 

SEPARATED  FOR  J»IISSION  WORK. 

(Acts  13  :  1-3.) 

AUGUSTUS  H.  STRONG   D.  D., 

President  Rochester  Theological  Seminary,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

This  passage  is  one  of  the  most  important  in  the  New 
Testament.  It  is  the  turning  point  of  the  Acts  of  the 
Apostles,  It  describes  a  great  crisis  in  the  history  of  the 
church,  the  first  formal  organized  movement  for  the  uni- 
versal diiFusion  of  the  gospel.  Hitherto  Jerusalem  had 
been  the  centre,  and  Christ  had  been  preached  almost  ex- 
clusively to  Jews.  Now  Antioch  became  the  centre,  and 
Christianity  started  out  to  convert  the  whole  Gentile 
world.  Fourteen  years  before,  the  ship  of  stilvation  had 
been  launclied  far  from  the  sea  ;  all  these  years  it  had 
been  making  its  way  down  the  river  to  the  river's 
mouth  ;  now  it  has  reached  the  ocean  and,  leaving  the 
country  of  its  birth,  it  is  to  begin  a  voyage  which  will 
not  end  till  it  has  touched  upon  every  coast,  and  has  car- 
ried the  good  news  of  the  kingdom  to  every  nation  under 
heaven.  If  I  had  discovered  a  new  variety  of  wheat, 
and  had  but  a  half-dozen  grains  of  it  at  my  disposal,  I 
would  not  introduce  it  by  planting  one  grain  in  Japan, 
another  on  the  Congo,  and  so  on,  until  I  had  but  one  left 
to  plant  at  home.  No  ;  in  that  way  they  would  probably 
all  be  lost.  I  would,  therefore,  plant  all  six  at  home  in 
a  teacup  ;  when  they  had  germinated,  I  would  transfer 
them  to  a  garden  bed  ;  the  fruit  of  these  I  would  sow  in 
a  field ;  only  when  I  had  gotten  a  large  crop  from  suc- 

125 


126  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

cessive  sowings  would  I  send  my  seed  abroad.  So  God's 
plan  was  first  to  secure  good  seed.  In  that  little  land  of 
Palestine  a  single  corn  of  wheat  fell  into  the  ground  and 
died.  Christ's  death  was  followed  by  resurrection  and 
ascension.  Pentecost  was  the  feast  of  firstfruits.  Jews 
Avere  gathered  in — those  natural  proselyters  and  propa- 
gandists. At  last,  after  fourteen  years  of  careful  tend- 
ing, the  seed  corn  has  borne  much  fruit.  But  it  has  been 
cherished  for  a  time,  amid  these  narrow  surroundings, 
only  that  it  may  grow  strong  enough  to  multiply  itself 
without  end.  And  now  at  Antioch  a  great  missionary 
impulse  seizes  the  assembled  church,  and  for  the  first 
time  it  puts  the  seed  into  the  hands  of  sowers,  and  sends 
them  out  to  scatter  it  through  the  heathen  world. 

We  believe  that  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles  gives  us 
illustrations  of  the  principles  upon  which  God  proceeds, 
and  upon  which  men  should  proceed,  in  extending  the 
kingdom  of  Christ.  Since  New  Testament  precedent  is 
the  common  law  of  rhe  church,  let  us  examine  this  critical 
passage,  and  see  what  its  lessons  are  for  us. 

The  first  lesson  seems  to  be  this :  The  Holy  Spirit  is 
the  spirit  of  foreign  missions,  and  will  lead  every  fully 
developed  ciiurch  to  pray  for  foreign  missions.  I  regard 
this  })assage  in  the  Acts  as  a  description  of  the  second 
great  prayer  meeting  of  the  Christian  church.  The  first  one 
had  taken  place  fourteen  years  before  at  Jerusalem,  just 
after  the  ascension  of  our  Lord.  It  was  a  meeting  of 
ten  days.  In  answer  to  united  and  continued  prayer,  the 
Holy  Spirit  moved  the  apostles  to  speak  with  other 
tongues,  and  the  gospel  was  preached  to  Jews.  But  one 
by  one,  indications  were  given  of  a  wider  purpose  of  God. 
The  conversion  of  the  Ethiopian  eunuch,  of  Cornelius, 


SEPAEATED    FOR   MISSION   WORK.  127 

of  a  few  Gentiles  at  Antioch,  stirred  up  this  particular 
church  to  inquire  what  God's  purpose  was  with  reference 
to  the  heathen.  The  church  was  drawn  to  prayer.  The 
fasting  was  an  indication  of  a  raind  intent  upon  knowing 
God's  will.  The  prophets  and  teachers  only  led  the 
church  in  supplication,  and  expressed  its  longing  that  the 
plan  of  God  might  be  more  fully  disclosed.  The  second 
great  prayer  meeting,  like  the  first  one  which  preceded 
Pentecost,  seems  to  have  been  a  meeting  of  days.  And 
it  was  then  that  the  Holy  Spirit  spake  once  more  through 
the  church's  ministers,  not  now  in  other  tongues,  but  in 
the  tongues  wherein  they  were  born,  saying  to  the  assem- 
bled church  :  "  Separate  me  Barnabas  and  Saul  for  the 
Avork  whereunto  I  have  called  them."  The  first  great 
prayer  meeting  resulted  in  the  preaching  of  the  gospel  to 
the  Jews ;  the  second  great  prayer  meeting  results  in  the 
preaching  of  the  gospel  to  the  Gentiles.  Now  first  the 
Holy  Spirit  interprets  to  the  church  the  meaning  of  our 
Lord's  parting  command  to  go  into  all  the  world  and  preach 
the  gospel  to  the  whole  creation.  Now  first  the  church 
breaks  away  from  her  contracted  past,  and  from  her 
Jewish  exclusiveness,  and  asserts  her  right  to  universal 
dominion.  The  oak  has  been  growing  in  a  flower-pot 
long  enough, — it  must  stretch  out  now  so  that  the  birds 
of  Europe  as  well  as  of  Asia  may  lodge  in  its  branches. 
Brethren,  has  not  the  Holy  Spirit  moved  us  to  meet  hei'e 
for  prayer?  If  in  our  present  meeting  we  seek  the  Holy 
Spirit's  direction  as  earnestly  as  those  early  Christians  did, 
may  not  some  new  and  larger  way  of  Christian  service  be 
opened  to  us  also  ? 

The  second  lesson  is,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  leads  every 
fully  developed  church  to  organized  and  associated  eflrjrt 


128  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

in  foreign  missions.  Up  to  the  time  of  the  great  meeting 
in  Antioch,  Christian  work  had  apparently  been  spon- 
taneous and  individual.  This  passage  marks  the  begin- 
ning of  concerted  measures,  of  studied  plans,  of  regular 
efforts  for  the  conquest  of  the  world.  From  this  time  Me 
have  something  like  co-operation,  machinery,  societies  in 
the  church.  As  it  was  not  the  prophets  and  teachers  only 
who  prayed,  so  it  was  not  the  prophets  and  teachers  only, 
but  the  church,  that  was  bidden  to  separate  Saul  and 
Barnabas  for  the  work.  These  apostles  did  not  go  out  at 
their  own  charges — we  may  believe  that  as  they  gave 
their  lives,  the  brethren  gave  their  money.  They  were 
the  church's  representatives  in  the  heathen  world — there- 
fore, when  they  came  back  they  reported  Avhat  they  had 
done  to  the  church  that  had  sent  them  out.  While  they 
were  absent  they  were  upheld  and  sustained  by  the 
prayers  of  the  brethren  whom  they  had  left  behind  ;  those 
hands  that  were  laid  upon  their  heads  M'hen  they  set  out 
were  symbolic  of  the  prayer  that  was  continually  to  cover 
and  protect  them  during  their  absence.  The  Holy  Spirit 
that  commanded  the  church  to  send  them  brought  all  the 
members  of  the  church  more  closely  together  in  that  act 
than  they  liad  ever  been  before.  Well  might  the  church 
at  Antioch,  where  the  disciples  were  first  called  Christians, 
be  the  first  church  to  undertake  regular  and  united  work 
for  the  heathen  !  Brethren,  if  we  ourselves  were  more 
worthy  to  be  called  Christians,  M'ould  not  the  Holy 
Spirit  lead  us  to  organize  some  great  new  movement  upon 
the  kingdom  of  darkness?  When  so  large  a  number  of 
our  prophets  and  teachers  are  gathered  as  are  liere  to-day, 
and  when  so  strong  a  feeling  of  Christian  union  pervades 
our  hearts^  are  we  not  warranted   in  believing  that  the 


SEPARATED    FOR   MISSION   WORK.  129 

Holy  Spirit  intends  for  us  some  closer  and  more  effective 
association  in  the  work  of  foreign  missions? 

The  third  lesson  is  this  :  The  Holy  Spirit  leads  the 
truly  spiritual  church  to  give  its  best  teachers  and   its 
best  men  to  the  work  of  foreign  missions.     Not  all  of 
them,  but  two-fifths  of  them,  and  they  the  best.     Symeon 
and  Lucius  and  Manaen,  the  foster  brother  of  Herod  the 
Tetrarch,  were,  doubtless,  men  of  mai-k  ;  but  Paul  and 
Barnabas  were  evidently  their  superiors,  both  in  zeal  and 
in  experience.    Were  not  such  men  as  Paul  and  Barnabas 
needed  at  Antioch  ?     Did  not  the  many  perils  of  the  in- 
fani  church,  did  not  its  heterogeneous  membership,  did 
not   its   frequent   subjects   of  controversy,   demand   the 
guidance  and  instruction  of  these  wise  apostles  ?     Well, 
it    might   seem    so   a1   first    sight.     And   yet   the   Holy 
Spirit  led  that  missionary  church  to  see  that  it  was  safe 
only  as  it  was  obedient;  that  to  scatter  was  the  only 
wav   to   increase ;    that   in   giving   up  its   best   teachers 
to  "save   others   it    best    insured    the    presence    with    it 
of  Christ  himself,  the  Great  Teacher,  and  the  Teacher 
of    all   teachers.     But    I    make    no    manner   of   doubt 
that  it  cost  something  to  that  church  at  Antioch  to  give 
up  its  best  to  God.     I  can  imagine  the  tears  and  the 
benedictions  that  marked  the  parting.     I  can  picture  to 
myself  Paul,  now  thirty-seven  years  of  age  and  in  his 
prime  vigor;  Barnabas,  the  •' son  of  consolation,"  with 
an  aspect  so  reverend  and  benign  that  the  simple  country 
people  could  take  him  for  Jupiter  come  down  to  earth. 
This  Paul  and  this  Barnabas  had  been  the  chosen  min- 
isters of  the  church's  bounty  to  the  poor  at  Jerusalem. 
Each  had  his  great  gift ;  the  one  of  argument,  the  other 
of  exhortation.     Thev  stood   high  in  the  favor  and  the 


130  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

confidence  of  the  church.  Both  were  most  acceptable 
to  the  Jews,  and  yet  both  are  sent  to  the  Gentiles  !  Breth- 
ren, if  we  felt  the  needs  of  the  perishing  world  as  that 
church  at  Antioch  felt  them,  should  not  Ave  also  bid  our 
best  preachers  and  teachers  leave  us  to  carry  the  gospel 
into  the  heart  of  heathen  Africa  and  Asia  ? 

There  is  a  fourth  and  last  lesson  :  In  a  truly  spiritual 
church  the  Holy  Spirit  will  move  many  of  his  best  min- 
isters to  go  on  foreign  missions.  In  his  epistle  to  the 
Galatians,  Paul  tells  us  that  God  had  separated  him  from 
his  very  birth  to  preach  Christ  among  the  heathen. 
From  eternity,  indeed,  he  had  been  chosen ;  but  only 
nine  years  before  this  had  he  been  called.  Then,  on 
the  way  to  Damascus,  God's  purpose  was  first  revealed 
to  him.  For  him,  a  Jew,  to  be  sent  as  an  apostle  to  the 
Gentiles  was  a  thing  so  strange  that  it  needed  long  medi- 
tation and  long  preparation  before  he  could  understand 
it.  And  so  for  nine  long  years  he  waited  for  the  special 
sign  that  his  work  was  to  begin.  Now,  through  the 
voices  of  his  brethren,  the  call  of  the  church  is  added  to 
the  call  of  God ;  the  Holy  Spirit  gives  the  sign,  and  he 
is  formally  separated,  set  apart,  consecrated,  to  special 
work  for  the  heathen.  It  was  like  Christ's  call  to  the 
elder  apostles,  Peter  and  John.  There  was  a  first  pre- 
liminary call  on  the  banks  of  the  Jordan  ;  then  after- 
ward, in  Galilee,  when  they  had  pondered  its  meaning 
and  prepared  their  hearts  for  the  sacrifice,  they  received 
the  summons,  and  in  a  moment  left  their  fishers'  nets  for- 
ever to  follow  Christ.  During  those  nine  years  since 
Paul's  conversion,  what  longings  must  liave  filled  his 
heart  !  With  what  sacred  joy,  yet  with  what  deep  sense 
of  responsibility,  must  he  have  recognized  in  these  voices 


SEPARATED    FOR    MISSION    WOniC.  131 

of  his  brethren  the  Holy  Spirit's  witness  that  his  prelim- 
inary training  was  complete,  and  that  the  great  work  of 
his  life  was  to  begin  !  My  brethren,  are  there  not  a 
mnltitude  of  Christ's  ministers  among  us  who  feel  greatly 
drawn  to  the  work  of  foreign  missions,  who  at  some  past 
time  thought  themselves  called  to  undertake  the  work, 
who  have  been  long  waiting  for  the  way  to  open  and  for 
the  sign  to  be  given  that  their  time  has  come  to  go  far 
hence  to  the  Gentiles?  Why  should  we  not  expect  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  say  to  us,  as  we  consult  with  regard  to  the 
needs  of  the  great  foreign  field,  "  Separate  me  such  and 
such  of  your  best  and  ablest  ministers  for  the  work  to 
which  I  have  called  them  "  ?  I  believe  there  are  many 
M'ho  would  welcome  with  all  their  hearts  such  a  call  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  through  the  voice  of  their  brethren,  and 
Avho  would  thenceforth  count  themselves  as  separated  and 
set  apart  to  foreign  mission  work, 

I  have  intimated  that  this  action  of  the  church  at 
Antioch  only  ratified  and  made  definite  God's  call  to  Paul 
at  his  conversion.  On  the  way  to  Damascus  he  came  face 
to  face  with  the  risen  Christ,  That  blindino-  crlorv  re- 
vealed  to  him  the  fact  that  Christ  was  the  infinitelv  Holy 
One;  showed  him  by  contrast  his  desperate  sinfulness; 
proved  that  his  Oivn  works  were  vain,  and  that  salvation 
must  be  wholly  by  grace  ;  made  known  to  him  the  perfect 
sufficiency  of  Jesus'  sacrifice  ani  the  universal  validity 
of  his  cleansing  blood.  That  one  view  of  Christ  showed 
Paul  that  Christ's  work  was  for  him  and  for  all,  for 
Gentile  as  well  as  Jew,  and  so  there  was  begotten  in  him 
the  absorbing  desire  to  publish  the  news  of  his  great 
salvation  to  the  w-liole  world  for  which  he  died.  Dear 
friends,  we  have  never  seen  the  same  outward  splendor 


132  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

of  the  Saviour's  majesty  which  smote  the  apostle  to  the 
earth.  But  we  have  had  Christ  revealed  ^y^  us,  just  as 
truly  as  he  was  revealed  in  Paul.  His  infinite  holiness, 
our  unspeakable  sin,  his  perfect  sacrifice,  the  sufficiency 
of  his  blood  to  cleanse  a  whole  world  of  sinners,  these  are 
arguments  to  us  as  well  as  to  Paul  to  carry  the  gospel  to 
every  creature  under  heaven.  Tlie  Holy  Spirit  is  the 
spirit  of  prayer  for  missions ;  he  leads  the  praying  church 
to  organize  for  work  abroad ;  he  bids  us  give  our  best 
men  to  tlie  foreign  field  ;  he  would  separate  many  of  us 
for  personal  service  there.  It  is  well  for  us  that  Paul  and 
Barnabas,  and  the  whole  church  at  Antioch,  obeyed  the 
call  of  the  Holy  Spirit  that  was  given  that  day.  That 
we  are  Christians  now  at  all  is  due  to  that  fact.  We  are 
not  Jews  but  Gentiles,  and  we  can  trace  back  our  lineage 
as  Christians  to  that  decision  whicli  sent  out  Paul  and 
Barnabas  to  the  heathen.  Aye,  our  whole  modern  Chris- 
tendom is  the  fruit  of  the  seed  that  began  to  be  scattered 
abroad  that  day.  Brethren,  let  us  be  obedient  to  the  voice 
of  God  as  that  church  at  Antioch  was!  Then,  in  some  dis- 
tant time  and  in  some  distant  quarter  of  the  world,  may 
souls  redeemed  to  God  trace  back  their  spiritual  lineage 
to  us,  and  declare  that  from  this  conference  and  from  this 
hour,  proceeded  a  new  and  mighty  movement  for  the 
bringing  of  the  world  to  Christ ! 


XL 
ENDUED  WITH  POWER. 

(Acts  1  :  1-S.) 

REV.  C.  J.  BALDWIN,  D.  D., 

Paslor  First  Baptist  Church,  Granville,  Ohio. 

If  the  books  of  the  New  Testament  were  arranged  in 
the  order  in  which  they  were  written,  the  series  would 
stand  as  follows :  Thessalonians,  Corinthians,  Colossians, 
Mark,  Luke,  Galatians,  Romans,  Philippians,  Jude, 
Titus,  Timothy,  Acts  of  the  Apostles,  Matthew,  Peter, 
John,  Revelation, 

Such  would  be  the  probable  programme  of  the  contents 
of  the  New  Testament,  as  thev  would  appear  on  a  chro- 
nological plan.  But  how  inferior  to  the  present  arrange- 
ment in  respect  to  the  harmony  of  parts  and  symmetry 
of  the  whole.  Our  Bible  in  such  a  form  would  be  a  mere 
collection  of  heterogeneous  elements,  without  logical  order 
or  vital  organization. 

But  the  Holy  Spirit  presided  over  the  arrangement 
as  well  as  the  preparation  of  the  inspired  books; 
nnd  as  a  result  the  formers  of  the  sacred  canon  were 
guided  to  the  present  perfect  system.  By  it  we  are  pro- 
vided with  a  complete  scheme  of  Christian  evolution. 
The  New  Testament  presents  a  progressive  view  of  Christ 
in  the  various  phases  of  his  character  and  work.  First, 
the  Gospels  show  us  Christ  in  the  flesh  ;  next  the  book 
of  Acts  reveals  Christ  in  the  church ;  then  the  Epistles 
make  known  Christ  in  the  truth ;  and  finally  Revelation 
describes  Christ  in  the  consummation  of  his  kingdom. 
12  133 


134  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

Thus  the  twenty-seven  distinct  treatises  Avhich  compose 
the  New  Testament,  written  as  they  were  by  different 
persons  at  various  times  and  for  a  variety  of  purposes, — 
and  not  one  of  those  authors  knew  that  he  Mas  produc- 
ing material  for  the  formation  of  a  Bible  for  the  future, — 
are  found  to  make,  when  properly  put  together,  a  mosaic 
picture  of  the  origin,  operations,  and  end  of  the  grace  of 
God  as  given  through  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

We  are  now  to  consider  one  of  these  factors  at  its 
opening  page. 

The  book  of  Acts  occupies  a  central  and  commanding 
position  in  the  scheme  of  revelation.  It  furnishes  the 
transition  point  betwe'en  the  fountain  head  of  the  king- 
dom of  God  on  earth,  and  the  radiating  branches  of  the 
stream.  To  appreciate  the  value  of  this  book  we  need 
only  try  to  imagine  the  consequences  of  its  absence. 
Suppose  that  the  reader  must  step  at  once  from  the  Gos- 
pels to  the  Epistles,  witii  no  knowledge  of  what  took 
place  in  the  interval  between  them,  what  would  he  make 
of  such  an  inscripiion  as  this  :  ''  Paul,  an  apostle  of 
Jesus  Christ,  to  the  saints  that  are  in  Rome" — or  in 
Corinth,  Ephesus,  Galatia?  ''Paul!"  the  reader  would 
exclaim.  "Who  is  he?  We  have  not  heard  of  him  in 
the  society  of  Jesus,  nor  do  the  evangelists  mention  him 
in  any  connection.  How  came  he  to  be  in  charge  of  the 
gospel?  And  as  for  the  saints  that  are  in  Eome, 
Corinth,  or  Ephesus,  we  have  read  no  record  of  the  pass- 
ina:  of  the  truth  from  the  Jews  to  the  Gentiles." 

Such  questions  as  these  would  arrest  and  bewilder  the 
reader  at  every  step  while  reading  the  Epistles.  These 
letters  would  appear  dark  with  geographical,  political, 
and  personal  difficulties,  which  hostile  critics  \vould  be 


ENDUED  WITH  POWER.  135 

prompt  to  point  out,  and  devout  believers  might  be 
troubled  by. 

But  as  it  is,  the  book  of  Acts  supplies  the  missing 
link,  with  its  wonderful  story  of  the  endowment  of  the 
disciples  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  iheir  organization  into  a 
system  of  aggressive  work,  its  development  into  a  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  and  the  far-reaching,  all-pervading 
power  and  success  of  its  operations.  This  record  is  the 
bridge  between  the  Gospels  and  the  Epistles,  completing 
the  former,  inaugurating  the  latter,  and  binding  both 
together  in  a  blessed  unity. 

We  are  now  concerned  with  the  introduction  of  this 
keystone  book — tlie  first  eight  verses  of  its  first  chapter : 
"  The  former  treatise  I  made,  O  Theophilus,  concern- 
ing all  that  Jesus  began  both  lo  do  and  to  teach,  until  the 
day  in  which  he  was  received  up." 

This  book  begins  by  taking  hold  of  the  past — linking 
itself  at  once  with  the  chain  of  previous  history.  And  it 
is  a  familiar  hand  by  which  this  is  done.  The  writer  is 
one  who  is  well-known  an  i  dear  to  us.  "  The  former 
treatise  "  reminds  us  of  that  one  of  the  evangelists  Avho 
was  best  fitted  to  write  the  sequel  to  their  story.  For 
Luke's  biography  of  the  Lord  comes  nearest  to  the 
modern  historical  method  in  its  orderly  arrangement,  its 
consecutive  treatment,  its  attention  to  details  and  evolution 
of  principles. 

It  is  well,  therefore,  that  the  reader  should  be  inspired 
with  this  confidence  in  the  author  at  the  start.  "  The 
former  treatise  "  is  the  warrant  which  recommends  the 
new  effort  to  our  attention.  Who  Theophilus  was,  we  do 
not  know ;  but  his  name  is  valuable  as  suggesting  the 
personal  element  which  is  so  common  in  the  New  Testa- 


136  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

raent.  How  many  of  its  books  are  directed  to  individ- 
uals, or  in  tlieir  subscriptions  mention  the  names  of  per- 
sons as  being  in  tlie  mind  of  the  writer  !  This  is  charac- 
teristic of  the  gospel  itself.  It  is  intensely  personal  in  its 
authorship  and  its  aim. 

But  we  observe  in  what  light  the  writer  of  this  book 
regards  his  previous  narrative.  It  was  but  a  prelude  that 
he  had  written  when  he  described  "  all  that  Jesus  began 
both  to  do  and  to  teach,  until  the  day  when  he  was  taken 
up."  The  perfect  life  was  not  a  finality.  From  the 
manger  to  Olivet  was  but  one  act  in  a  great  drama  whose 
scenes  were  to  unfold  through  the  endless  future.  "  Until 
the  day  when  he  was  taken  up  "  marks  the  era  of  the 
incarnation,  with  its  manifestations  of  Christ  in  the  flesh. 
After  that  day  another  era  had  opened,  which  Luke  is 
now  about  to  describe. 

But  the  first  stage  of  the  divine  process  must  not  close 
without  due  recognition  of  its  great  inspiring  motive 
power:  "After  that  he  had,  through  the  Holy  Ghost, 
given  commandment  unto  the  apostles  whom  he  had 
cliosen."  Here  is  an  appropriate  reference  to  the  part 
taken  by  the  third  person  of  the  Trinity  in  the  earthly 
life  of  our  Lord. 

The  Gospels  do  not  mention  the  agency  of  the  Spirit  at 
all  times  and  places,  but  they  evidently  assume  it  as  a 
constant  quantity.  Unto  the  Virgin  the  annunciation 
made  known  that  the  Holy  Giiost  w(.uld  be  the  paternal 
cause  of  the  incarnation.  At  the  baptism  of  Jesus  it  was 
the  same  Divine  presence  that  bestowed  on  him  the  endow- 
ment for  his  public  career.  It  was  in  the  power  of  the 
Spirit  that  he  returned  from  the  wilderness  and  began  his 
Messianic  work  :  as  it  is  written  that  "  God  anointed  him 


EXDUED    WITH    POWER.  137 

with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with  power,  who  went  about 
doing  good  ami  healing  all  that  were  oppressed,  for  God 
was  with  him."  This,  then,  was  the  secret  source  of  his 
public  abilities — of  miracles,  parables,  and  divine  mani- 
festations of  all  kinds :  they  were  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit 
which  God  gave  "  not  by  measure  "  unto  him.  His  life 
had  this  for  its  animating  principle ;  and  of  his  sacrificial, 
meritorious  death  it  is  written  that  he,  "  through  the 
eternal  Spirit,  offered  himself  without  blemish  unto  God." 

We  can  understand  then  why  this  book  of  Acts,  which 
was  to  make  as  prominent  the  personal  presence  of  the 
Spirit  as  the  Gosjjels  had  presented  that  of  the  Saviour, 
should  thus  throw  a  backward  light  on  the  preceding 
narrative,  showing  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  not  a  new- 
comer on  the  scene.  He  who  was  to  be  the  guide  and 
inspirer  of  the  apos'.les,  the  ever-present  energizer  of  the 
church,  had  been  equally  near  and  necessary  to  the  Head 
of  the  church.  It  was  "  through  the  Holy  Spirit  that  he 
had  given  commandment  to  the  apostles  before  his  ascen- 
sion, and  it  was  by  tiie  same  Divine  agent  that  he  was  to 
be  with  them  alway  even  to  the  end  of  the  world." 

Having  thus  struck  the  keynote  of  the  new  dispensa- 
tion by  due  reference  to  the  old,  the  writer  proceeds  to 
show  that  not  only  the  animating  cause,  but  the  subject 
matter  of  the  two  eras  is  the  same.  The  dead  Christ  is 
still  the  living  Christ.  He  who  was  buried  out  of  sig-ht 
has  reappeared.  The  resurrection  must  be  kept  in  mind 
as  the  basic  fact  of  the  new  order  of  things.  That  Christ 
died  and  rose  again  is  to  be  the  text  and  sermon  of  the 
gospel  to  the  world,  and  therefore  it  must  be  fully  estab- 
lished as  a  fact  by  the  mouths  of  competent  witnesses ;  so 
it  is  written,  "He  showed  himself  alive  after  his  passion 


138  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

by  many  proofs,  appearing  unto  the  apostles  by  the  space 
of  forty  days,  and  speaking  the  things  concerning  the 
kingdom  of  God  "  (ver.  3). 

There  were  eight  of  these  epiphanies  as  described  :  to 
Mary  Magdalene,  to  the  other  women,  to  the  two  dis- 
ciples, to  the  ten,  to  Thomas,  on  the  Galilean  mountain, 
to  the  seven,  at  the  ascension  ;  these  were  some,  if  not 
all,  of  the  Divine  appearances  during  those  wonderful 
forty  days.  Why  the  risen  Lord  did  not  abide  continu- 
ously with  his  followers  during  that  time ;  Avhere  he 
resided,  and  what  he  did  when  not  with  them  ;  whether 
he  was  visible  at  all  to  any  others  besides  them,  are  ques- 
tions that  we  cannot  answer. 

But  the  reason  for  the  manifestations  which  are  re- 
corded is  evident  in  the  foundation  which  he  thus  laid  for 
the  faith  of  his  people  ever  afterward — that  the  resurrec- 
tion should  be  the  corner-stone  of  his  church.  Who  has 
not  longed,  however,  that  some  full  record  had  been  kept 
of  what  he  said  when  "  speaking  the  things  concerning 
the  kingdom  of  God  "  ?  Wiiat  ripeness  of  instruction 
and  fullness  of  revelation  must  have  marked  that  teach- 
ing !  as  witness  a  few  of  the  remnants  that  are  preserved 
to  us  : 

"  Being  assembled  together  with  them,  he  charged 
them  not  to  depart  from  Jerusalem,  but  to  wait  for  the 
promise  of  the  Father,  which,  said  he,  ye  heard  of  me  : 
for  John  indeed  baptized  in  water,  but  ye  shall  be  bap- 
tized in  the  Holy  Ghost  not  many  days  hence  "  (ver.  4,  5). 
''  The  promise  of  the  Father  "  was  not  that  of  a  mate- 
rial kingdom  soon  to  be  established  on  the  earth  ;  it  was 
that  of  a  spiritual  endowment  to  be  conferred  on  their 
own  souls.     The  dispensation  of  their  endeavor  was  to 


ENDUED    WITH    POWER  139 

open  as  his  own  jSIessiabship  had  been  introduced — with 
a  public  unction  from  on  high.  They  all  remembered 
those  dramatic  scenes  by  the  Jordan,  when  the  kingdom 
of  heaven  was  announced  by  the  great  herald  and  mul- 
titudes of  people-prepared  for  it  by  the  ceremony  of  bap- 
tism. But  this  was  to  be  more  than  paralleled  by  an  in- 
itiatory rite  performed  not  by  human,  but  by  divine 
agency — they  were  to  be  baptized  in  the  Spirit. 

What  was  that  new  function  ?  When,  how,  was  it  to  be 
administered  ?  "  Wait — wait  at  Jerusalem  ! "  was  the 
only  answer.  And  well  could  he  render  such  advice  to 
his  disciples  who  had  passed  through  a  similar  experience 
himself.  How  long  had  he  waited  for  the  promise  of  the 
Father  given  to  himself!  From  the  age  of  twelve,  when 
liis  opening  nature  received  its  first  full  consecration,  all 
through  those  eighteen  years  of  manual  labor  and  ob- 
scurity he  was  waiting  for  the  Divine  commission.  We 
cannot  tell  when  he  arrived  at  a  clear  self-consciousness 
of  his  divine-human  nature  and  work.  But  that  his  life 
mu-.t  have  been  pointed  toward  a  public  career  of  some 
kind  during  the  carpenter's  work  in  Galilee,  we  cannot 
doubt.  The  pure  and  tender  influence  of  his  saintly 
mother,  wlio  well  knew  what  lay  before  her  first-born 
son,  must  have  gently  but  surely  moved  his  character  in 
that  direction.  The  teachings  of  the  Spirit  bestowed  on 
him  from  earliest  years  must  have  filled  his  mind  with 
prophecies  and  promises  of  the  future  soon  to  be  revealed. 
And  the  ministry  of  angels,  not  withheld  from  the  youth 
or  from  the  man,  would  lead  his  thoughts  and  ambitions 
out  toward  a  patriotic  and  a  heavenly  career  for  which 
there  was  at  that  time  such  evident  need.  The  enslave- 
ment of  his  country  by  the  Romans,  the  formalism  of  the 


140  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

priesthood,  the  corruptions  of  Pharisees  and  scribes,  the 
superstition  of  the  people,  the  utter  selfishness  and  world- 
liness  of  the  times,  all  tended  to  remind  him  of  a  great 
necessity,  a  crisis,  and  an  oppportunit y  which  his  growing 
nature  yearned  to  meet. 

Thus  appealed  to  and  urged  by  outer  and  inner  im- 
pulses, the  cry  "  I  must  be  about  the  things  of  my 
Father"  became  the  motto  of  his  crescent  spirit.  To 
proclaim  the  kingdom  of  God,  to  dispel  the  darkness, 
reconcile  heaven  and  earth,  restore  the  throne  of  David — 
these  were  the  day-dreams  and  hopes,  the  resolves  and 
ambitions  of  the  advancing  youtli.  Let  no  one  think  of 
the  young  carpenter  as  plodding  through  a  dull  routine 
of  unexpectant  days,  year  after  year,  content  with  a  dim 
life  on  which  the  moving  sun  of  revelation  had  not  yet  risen. 
Rather  imagine  an  expanding  nature  ever  moving  eastward, 
and  stirred  with  premonitions  of  the  dawn  each  moment. 
His  was  an  attitude  of  readiness  and  eagerness,  perhaps 
not  fully  informed  or  self-conscious,  but  certainly  not 
wholly  ignorant  or  idle.  Ancient  founts  of  inspiration 
welled  through  all  his  being,  the  stories  of  Moses  and 
Elijah  fired  his  thought,  all  the  heroism  of  the  past 
was  his  natal  endowment.  Thus  the  boy  blossomed  into 
youth  and  the  youth  ripened  into  manhood,  fit  and  will- 
ing for  something  beyond  the  circle  of  the  Nazarcne  hills. 
But  what  was  it?  When  and  where  would  it  be?  To 
these  questions,  asked  perhaps  each  morning  with  his 
opening  eyes,  no  answer  came  but — wait !  wait !  And  this 
he  did  for  eighteen  years.  What  a  trial  of  patience  and 
faith  !  to  feel  the  stir  within  him  of  ripening  powers  for 
which  there  was  no  occasion  at  the  carpenter's  bench ;  to 
be  conscious  daily  of  an  increasing  life  which  even  his 


EXDTED  WITH  POWER.  141 

own  brethren  did  not  suspect;  to  hear  the  inarticulate 
roar  of  a  nation's  need  sounding  on  the  horizon  like  the 
call  of  a  sea  that  Avaits  for  the  mariner  to  come  and  ex- 
plore it ;  to  know  that  some  great  destiny  was  looking 
for  him  out  in  the  world  and  wondering  Avhere  he  was ; 
all  this  around  him  and  before,  but  for  him  nothing  but 
wait,  wait,  through  the  long  and  weary  years. 

As  we  now  see,  this  protracted  experience  was  educa- 
tional ;  it  was  the  best  possible  preparation  of  his  human 
nature  for  the  divine  work  before  it,  developing  as  it  did 
the  virtues  of  faith  and  hope  in  the  unseen,  endurance, 
patience,  and  courage,  which  his  public  career  was  after- 
ward to  require. 

It  was  then  with  a  feeling  of  sympathy  that  he  laid  on 
his  disciples  a  similar  burden  to  bear — "  wait  for  the 
promise."  They  too  must  learn  what  it  means  to  be  still, 
and  know  that  '•'  I  am  God."  They  must  accept  the  bit 
and  bridle  of  discipline,  the  curb  of  self-control.  Before 
they  were  entrusted  with  the  power  of  command  they 
must  acquire  the  faculty  of  obedience.  And  for  the 
stern  tests  of  the  pilgrimage  and  the  battle,  public  honor 
and  success,  there  was  no  better  novitiate  than  this  of 
humble  waiting  and  docility.  It  is  always  so.  The 
gi-eat  Commander  accepts  no  volunteer  who  will  not 
submit  to  this  ordeal.  Moses  must  spend  forty  years  in 
the  wilderness;  David  be  driven  into  exile;  Paul  pass 
three  years  in  Arabia  ;  and  Jesus  remain  silent  until  mid- 
dle life.     Such  is  the  school  in  which  heroes  are  made. 

And  how  often  in  after  years  did  the  apostles  look  back 
to  those  quiet  days  in  Jerusalem  with  a  pathetic  apprecia- 
tion of  their  value.  In  the  storm  and  stress  of  their 
endless  warfare,  wandering  and  struggling  and  sufFerino- 


142  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

over  the  earth,  fightings  without  and  fears  within,  scat- 
tered far  and  wide  to  see  each  other  no  more  in  this 
world,  how  tenderly  did  they  recall  that  restful  season  of 
waiting  upon  God.  Spent  in  loving*  communion  with 
each  other,  and  in  solemn  silence  and  fervent  prayer,  it 
breathed  on  them  a  spell  of  holy  peace  which  never 
afterward  passed  away. 

Thus  were  they  prepared  for  the  unction  from  on  high. 
AVhen  it  came,  with  awful  abruptness  and  confounding 
splendor,  it  found  them  ready  to  receive  this  holy  chrism. 
All  emptied  of  self,  and  purified  from  earthly  elements, 
their  nature  was  fit  to  be  made  a  tabernacle  for  the  new 
Shechinah — the  grace  of  God  that  bringeth  salvation. 

That  there  was  need  for  such  a  preliminary  discipline 
on  their  part  is  evident  from  the  last  question  which  they 
asked  of  their  Master  before  his  departure.  Just  as  he 
was  about  to  leave  them  on  the  mount  of  ascension,  they 
clung  to  him  with  the  cry,  "  Lord,  dost  thou  at  this  time 
restore  the  kingdom  to  Israel  ?  " — so  low  and  limited  was 
the  horizon  of  their  prospect,  so  dull  a  conception  had 
they  of  the  spirituality  of  his  work.  j 

Accordingly  it  was  necessary  for  him  to  remind  them 
of  the  limitations  and  the  greatness  of  their  function. 
They  must  be  content  with  a  certain  restriction  and  a 
corresponding  privilege.  On  the  one  hand,  weakness  ;  on 
the  other,  strength.  "  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  times  or 
seasons  which  the  Father  hath  put  within  his  own 
authority  "  (ver.  7).  Such  was  their  limitation,  the  side 
of  their  ignorance,  where  they  must  walk  by  faith. 
"  But  ye  shall  receive  power  when  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
come  upon  you,  and  ye  shall  be  my  witnesses  both  at 
home  and  abroad"  (ver.  8).     Such  was  their  limitation, 


ENDUED  WITH  POWER.  143 

the  side  of  their  light  and  strength  where  they  might 
walk  by  sight.  "We  can  understand  why  the  dispensation 
of  ignorance  was  laid  on  them — "  it  is  not  for  you  to 
know."  This  was  of  a  piece  with  the  injunction  "  wait." 
It  was  part  of  the  discipline  of  their  preparation,  con- 
straining them  to  cultivate  humility,  patience,  faith. 
Perhaps  the  Master  himself  had  been  subjected  to  such 
a  trial  in  the  time  of  his  immaturity,  and  he  knew  what 
a  developer  of  character  it  was — this  groping  forward  in 
the  dark.  If  he  referred  to  such  a  restriction  of  his 
human  vision  when  he  said,  "  Of  that  day  and  hoiir 
knoweth  no  man,  neither  the  Son,  but  the  Father  only," 
he  indicated  thereby  his  sympathy  with  one  of  the 
burdens  of  the  Christian  lot.  For  it  is  a  burden  some- 
times hard  to  bear — this  obscurity  where  we  prefer 
enlightenment,  this  ignorance  when  knowledge  would  be 
so  desirable. 

What  pilgrim  in  the  wilderness  but  has  longed  to  see 
the  journey's  end  ?  What  worker  but  has  felt  that  if  he 
could  only  know  the  measure  of  his  task,  it  would  be  so 
much  easier  to  do  and  to  endure?  This  is  the  secret  of 
the  perpetually  recurrent  agitation  of  the  great  themes 
of  eschatologv.  Christian  students  and  thinkers  and 
workers  are  found  in  every  generation  who  insist  on 
times  and  seasons  for  the  fulfillment  of  prophecy.  The 
Lord  is  at  hand.  The  Second  Advent  is  near.  These 
are  the  echoes  of  the  ancient  cry,  "  Dost  thou  at  this  time 
restore  the  kingdom  ?  " 

We  need  not,  we  cannot  refrain  entirely  from  such 
conjectures  or  hopes.  They  are  part  of  the  natal  impulses 
of  the  child  toward  the  absent  parent — the  wintry  earth 
for  the  summer  sun.    Cherished  rationally  and  reverently, 


144  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

they  furnish  Christian  hope  with  some  of  its  brightest 
themes,  and  Christian  faith  with  its  strongest  assurance. 
Nevertheless,  the  true  believer  will  always  remember  the 
warning,  ''  It  is  not  for  you  to  know  "  ;  and  he  will  accept 
it  with  self-denial  and  patience.  For  side  by  side  with  it 
comes  the  great  compensation,  "  Ye  shall  receive  power." 

The  w^ord  "  power  "  stands  in  the  English  New  Testa- 
ment for  different  words  in  the  original  Greek.  In  the 
passage,  "  the  Son  of  man  hath  povver  on  earth  to  forgive 
sin>,"  it  signifies  ability — latent  or  potential  force,  which 
may  or  may  not  be  exercised  ;  so  also  in  the  passages,  '^  to 
them  gave  he  power  (right)  to  become  sons  of  God"; 
"  all  this  power  (authority)  will  I  give  thee,"  etc. 

But  this  is  not  the  meaning  of  the  term  before  us. 
As  used  here,  the  word  "power"  is  in  the  original 
"dunamis" — signifying  active,  applied  force.  From  it 
we  derive  the  terms  dynamite,  dynamics — indicating  the 
most  intense  operative  agencies.  It  is  this  tremendous 
word  whicli  is  used  in  the  passages  :  '•  Jesus  returned  in  the 
power  of  the  Spirit " ;  "  there  went  virtue  (dunamis)  out 
of  him  "  ;  "  with  great  power  gave  the  apostles  witness 
of  the  resurrection  " ;  "  Christ  the  power  of  God."  These 
are  specimens  of  Divine  dynamics, — not  of  the  possibilities 
of  grace,  but  of  its  actualities, — omnipotence  let  loose  on 
the  world  like  electricity  taking  the  form  of  a  thunder- 
bolt. 

Thus  we  find  the  meaning  of  the  promise,  "  Ye  shall 
receive  power "  ;  that  is,  they  were  not  to  be  endowed 
with  authority, — that  had  been  already  bestowed  in  the 
Great  Commission, — nor  to  be  vested  with  potential  energy 
like  a  sword  in  the  scabbard,  to  be  used  or  not :  nay, 
there  was  to  come  on  them  an  energy  like  the  sacred  fire 


ENDUED  WITH  POWER.  145 

of  the  Shechinah,  a  force  all -mastering  and  compelling. 
And  such  was  the  fact  at  last.  The  phenomena  of 
Pentecost  were  those  of  a  volcanic  eruption ;  the  results 
whicli  followed  were  those  of  an  earthquake.  The  words 
and  deeds  of  the  apostles  operated  on  the  world  with  an 
explosive  energy  so  wonderful,  so  terrible  as  to  leave  all 
previous  miracles  obscure.  The  gospel  was  indeed  the 
dynamite  of  God. 

And  observe  the  agent  of  this  endowment :  "  Ye  shall 
receive  power  (dunamis)  after  that  the  Holy  Ghost  is 
come  upon  you."  This  is  the  method  and  result  of 
divine  empowering.  The  Spirit  is  ever  the  dynamic 
agent  of  the  Godhead.  He  comes  upon,  is  poured  out, 
lavished  on  the  objects  of  the  Divine  will ;  as  when  he 
brooded  the  abyss  of  chaos  and  cosmos  was  brought  forth  ; 
when  he  passed  into  the  nostrils  of  the  form  of  clay  a 
man's  living  soul  was  born ;  when  he  came  on  the 
Hebrew  workmen  and  the  tabernacle  was  built ;  when  he 
inspired  the  prophets  and  they  became  oracles ;  when  he 
overshadowed  the  Virgin  and  Immanuel  was  begotten; 
when  he  descended  on  man's  Jesus  and  transformed  him 
into  God's  Christ. 

Thus  the  Holy  One  is  ever  the  ani mater,  the  energizer 
by  whom  divine  perfections  are  translated  into  human 
abilities.  Accordingly,  when  the  disciples  were  to  l)ecome 
apostles  they  too  must  pass  through  this  wonderful  pro- 
cess, and  thus  be  endued  with  dunamis  from  on  high. 
This  to  the  end  that  "  ye  shall  be  witnesses  unto  me,  both 
in  Jerusalem  and  in  all  Judea,  and  in  Samaria,  and  unto 
the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth." 

"  Witnesses  (martyrs)  unto  me."     Their  mission  was  to 
be  one  not  merely  of  publication,  but  of  testimony ;  not 
13 


146  CENTENAKY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

SO  much  telling  a  story  as  adducing  evidence,  and  that  in 
the  presence  of  incredulity  and  opposition.  They  must 
be  brought  before  rulers  and  judges  for  the  name  of 
Christ  and  there  be  arraigned  and  condemned.  In  them 
the  gospel  must  find  advocates  who  would  not  fear,  and 
sufferers  who  could  endure  all  that  hostile  courts  might 
inflict.  As  the  Father  sent  his  Son  to  w^itness  a  good  con- 
fession before  Pilate,  so  the  Son  sent  his  disciples  to  be 
"  witnesses  "  before  the  world. 

And  how  soon  the  word  witness  came  to  mean 
"martyr"  history  sadly  tells.  Wha!;  it  costs  them  to  tell 
the  story  of  Jesus  and  the  resurrection  Stephen  discov- 
ered before  the  Sanhedrin,  and  Peter  before  the  chief 
priests,  and  Paul  at  Athens.  Well  might  they  shrink 
beforehand  from  such  a  desperate  enterprise,  remembering 
what  it  had  already  cost  their  Lord  :  How  could  they 
succeed  where  he,  the  miracle  worker,  had  failed?  Peter, 
still  sore  and  shamed  from  his  denial,  Tliomas,  from  liis 
doubtings,  and  all  of  them  with  the  memory  of  their  de- 
sertion.    What  kind  of  witnesses  would  they  be  ? 

But  the  promise  of  diinamis  went  with  the  commission, 
and  its  fulfillment  solved  the  problem.  After  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  liad  come  upon  them  they  became  a  "  new 
creation"  in  Chri:^t  Jesus,  and  then  with  great  ditnamis 
gave  the  apostles  witness  of  the  resurrection,  "and  great 
grace  was  upon  thorn  all."  Then  the  preaching  of  the 
cross,  which  w^as  to  the  pcrisliing  folly,  became  to  the 
saved  the  dynamics  of  God.  For  it  was  not  in  persuasive 
words  of  wisdom,  but  in  demonstration  of  the  Spirit,  and 
therefore  it  was  like  spiritual  dynamite  to  the  world, 
casting  down  imaginations  and  every  high  thing. 

What  the  world  needs  and  the  church  must  supply  at  the 


ENDUED   WITH   POWER.  147 

present  time,  is  such  witnessing  as  this.  There  is  no  lack 
of  preachers  and  teachers  of  the  truth — at  least  here  in  this 
land  of  religious  light.  Our  churches  and  schools  abound 
in  professional  instructors  and  personal  agents  whose 
office  and  pleasure  it  is  to  serve  the  gospel.  But  are 
they  always  witnesses  in  the  apostolic  sense?  Are  they 
willing  and  able  to  render  their  testimony  before  the 
judgment  bar  of  hostile  criticism?  Can  they  carry  it  to 
the  enemies  of  the  cross?  Will  they  go  with  it  to  the 
uttermost  parts  of  the  earth?  Au'l  if  they  so  do,  what  is 
the  result  ?  Is  the  gospel  thus  preached  mighty  through 
God  ?  Is  the  word  a  sword  that  pierceth,  a  hammer  that 
breaketh  ? 

How  well  we  know  that  now,  as  in  the  early  days,  there 
is  the  same  dilFerence  between  the  form  of  godliness  and 
the  power,  the  letter  that  killeth  and  the  spirit  that 
giveth  life  !  Who  has  not  longed  with  agonizing  desire 
for  some  of  the  ancient  dynamite  with  which  the  word 
once  rent  asunder  and  demolished  the  barriers  of  sin? 
And  yet  history  assures  us  that  the  divine  dynamics  of  the 
gospel  are  not  necessarily  identical  with  the  gifts  of 
miracle.  All  through  the  ages  the  heroes  of  the"  faith 
have  found  that  Christ  was  to  them  the  power  of  God. 
B'.it  always  the  apostolic  conditions  are  required  for  the 
apostolic  success.  "  Ye  shall  receive  power  after  that  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  come  upon  you."  His  terms  are  always 
the  same :  "  Wait  for  the  promise,"  with  self-denial, 
patience,  and  hope ;  "  it  is  not  for  you  to  know  times  and 
seasons,"  but  be  content  to  walk  by  faith  amid  the  mys- 
teries of  Providence. 

Thus  let  the  humble,  trustful  soul,  emptied  of  self  and 
open  toward  God,  watch  for  the  coming  of  the  Lord  in 


148  CENTENARY    MI-SIOXARY    ADDRESSES. 

his  own  time  and  wav,  and  verily  I  say  unto  you, 
the  "  promise  of  the  Father  "  will  be  fulfilled  in  such  an 
opening  of  the  heavens  and  a  pouring  out  of  blessing  that 
there  shall  not  be  room  to  receive  it. 


XII. 
"THE  CAKE  FOR  GOD'S  PROPHET  FIRST." 

(1  Kings  17  :  1-17.) 

REV.  JOHN  HUMPSTONE,  D.  D., 

Pastor  Emmanuel  Baptist  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y. 

The  famine  was  sore  in  Israel,  and  the  drought  also ; 
but  God's  prophet  did  not  starve.  Fed  by  the  ravens 
and  refreshed  by  the  brook,  Elijah's  sojourn  at  Cherrth 
was  a  perpetual  discipline  in  the  life  of  faith. 

But  it  came  to  pass  after  a  while  that  the  brook  dried 
up.  What  now?  where  next?  were  surely  the  ques- 
tions upon  Elijah's  lips.  At  last  came  answer  from  God : 
Into  exile  ! — "  Get  thee  to  Zarephath,  which  belongeth  to 
Zidon."  And  with  the  requirement  an  assurance  :  "  I 
have  commanded  a  widow  woman  there  to  sustain  thee." 
The  command  to  fly  and  the  promise  to  sustain,  together 
constituted  a  new  test  of  faith.  Phoenicia  was  the  home- 
land of  Jezebel ;  the  house  of  Baal  was  there ;  thence  had 
come  the  desolation  of  Israel.  And  is  God's  prophet  to 
be  nouri.shed  in  the  enemy's  country  ?  and  by  a  widow  at 
that  ?  He,  a  big  and  brawny  man— is  he  to  live  as  a 
dependent  on  a  Avidow's  bounty  ?  But  God's  bare  word 
is  the  prophet's  marching  order.  Wherever  God  sends 
him  there  is  the  prophet's  place.  However  God  will 
support  him,  that  is  his  stipend  : — 

His  not  to  make  replj' ; 
His  not  to  reason  why  ; 
His  but  to  do  and  die 

149 


150  CENTENARY    MI=.=TOXAr.Y    ADDRESSES. 

if  need  be.  "  So  he  arose  and  Avent  to  Zarephath."  But 
when  he  arrived,  what?  Famine  sore  in  Phoenicia,  and 
drought  as  dreadful  as  in  Israel !  A  widow  at  the  city 
gate,  indeed ;  and  so  far  an  assurance  to  faith  !  but  a 
widow  in  want,  as  soon  ai)pears.  To  the  hungry  proph- 
et's request  for  a  morsel  of  bread,  there  came  for  answer 
the  wail  of  a  calamitous  house  :  "  As  the  Lord  thy  God 
liveth,  I  have  not  a  cake,  but  a  handful  of  meal  in  a 
barrel,  and  a  little  oil  in  a  cruse ;  and  behold,  I  am 
gathering  two  sticiis — two  would  suffice  to  bake  such  a 
morsel  as  remained — that  I  may  go  in  and  dress  it  for  me 
and  my  son,  that  we  may  eat  it  and  die." 

How  true  to  the  life  is  every  detail !  Each  stroke  of 
the  story  has  in  it  the  verisimilitude  of  fact.  It  is  as 
graphic  as  the  Gospel  of  Mark  ;  the  perfection  of  realism 
in  narrative.  One  can  almost  see  the  Avornan's  gaunt 
face  darken  with  the  shadow  of  impending  death. 

And  what  said  Elijah  to  such  tidings?  Did  his  heart 
fall  to  his  sandal's  lev^el  ?  Did  his  face  blanch  for  fear? 
JSTeither,  for  so  much  as  a  moment !  Faith,  that  is  worthy 
of  the  name,  does  not  falter. 

"  Fear  not,"  said  the  prophet  to  the  widow.  That  is 
faith's  constant  watchword.  "  Go  and  do  as  thou  hast 
said  :  but  make  me  a  little  cake  thereof  first,  and  bring  it 
unto  me,  and  after  make  for  thee  and  for  thy  son.  For 
thus  saith  the  Lord  God  of  Israel,  The  barrel  of  meal 
shall  not  waste,  neither  shall  the  cruse  of  oil  fail,  until 
the  day  that  the  Lord  sendeth  rain  upon  the  earth." 

This  is  ever  faith's  way  with  God's  promises.  It 
honors  them  by  use.  It  credits  them  by  affirming  them. 
It  tests  them  by  putting  them  to  the  proof  of  the  event. 
Faith  loaves  results  where  thev  belono; — with  God.     He 


THE   CAKE   FOR  GOD's   PROPHET    FIRST.  151 

has  more  at  stake  than  his  prophet  has.  When  the  prom- 
ise is  given,  all  the  prophet  has  to  do  is  to  voice  it,  to 
fulfill  its  conditions,  and  to  wait  for  God : — 

To  doubt  would  be  disloj^alty  ; 
To  falter  would  be  sin. 

Here,  then,  is  our  first  lesson :  The  life  of  God's 
prophets  is  ceaselessly  a  life  of  faith.  God  is  per- 
petually putting  his  prophets  to  the  proof  whether  they 
Avill  believe  his  unattested  word,  and  do  his  simple  bid- 
ding as  straightforward  men.  It  is  thus  that  he  fits  them 
for  further  usefulness.  Every  Zarephath  is  the  precursor 
of  Carmel  beyond.  God  can  use  for  prophet  only  the 
man  who  is  willing  to  learn  a  hemic,  a  dauntless,  a  daring 
faith.  If  one  who  comes  to  God  "must  believe  that  he 
is,  and  that  he  is  a  rewarder  of  them  that  diligently  seek 
him,"  much  more  must  they  who  go  for  God  be  ready  to 
take  him  at  his  word,  and  to  live  strictly  by  his  promise. 
If  God  can  do  no  mighty  works  for  them  who  stagnate 
in  unbelief,  it  is  certain  he  can  do  no  mighty  works  by 
such.  The  ministry  of  the  word  is  powerless  in  propor- 
tion as  it  is  faithless. 

And  this  is  especially  true  of  the  prophets  whom  God 
sends  into  exile.  He  whom  God  expatriates  is  shut  up  to 
trust  in  God.  The  missionary  enterprise,  from  first  to 
last,  is  a  faith  enterprise.  Its  enthusiasms  are  wholly 
irrational  to  men  who  do  not  believe  in  the  supernatural 
facts  of  the  gospel,  and  to  some  even  who  profess  to 
believe  them.  "William  Carey,  with  his  watchword  of 
missions, — that  utterance  of  sublime  faith, — "Attempt 
great  things  for  God  :  expect  great  things  from  God," 
was  a  subject  of  derision  to  Sydney  Smith.  But  what 
v.arrant  have  we  for  our  purpose  to  displace  the  false  or 


152  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

partial  religions  of  heathendom,  but  our  faith  that  Jesus 
Christ  is  God  incarnate  ?  Tliat  he  died  a  sacrifice,  rose  a 
Saviour,  reigns  a  King  ?  And  our  only  sufficiency  for  a 
mission  with  such  a  purpose  is  our  faith  in  his  guarantee 
to  be  with  us  to  the  end.  Our  only  motive,  equal  to  our 
task,  is  our  confidence  that  what  he  says  of  men  as  lost, 
and  of  his  relation  to  them  as  Saviour,  is  true.  Only  as 
faith  rests  upon  the  invisible  Christ  and  his  inviolable 
promise,  is  any  soul  equal  to  the  dangers,  the  duties,  and 
the  trials  of  missionary  life.  So  Mrs.  Judsou  found, 
during  those  dreadful  months  at  Oungpenla.  Let  her 
own  words  witness  :  "■  If  ever  I  felt  the  value  and  efficacy 
of  prayer,  I  did  at  this  time.  I  could  not  rise  from  my 
couch  ;  I  could  make  no  effi^rt  to  secure  my  husband ;  I 
could  only  plead  wdth  that  great  and  wise  Being  who  has 
said,  '  Call  upon  me  in  the  day  of  trouble,  and  I  will 
hear,  and  thou  slialt  glorify  me ' ;  and  who  made  me  at 
this  time  feel  so  powerfully  this  promise,  that  I  became 
quite  composed,  feeling  assured  that  my  prayers  would  be 
answered."  So  found  David  Livingstone,  surrounded  in 
mid-Africa  by  the  hostile  tribes  of  Loanda.  Hear  his 
journal :  "  Felt  much  turmoil  of  spirit  in  view  of  having 
all  my  plans  for  the  welfare  of  this  great  region  and  teem- 
ing population  knocked  on  the  head  by  savages  to-morrow. 
But  I  read  that  Jesus  came  and  said,  '  All  power  is  given 
unto  me  in  heaven  and  earth.  Go  ye  therefore,  and  teach 
all  nations — and,  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  unto  the 
end  of  the  world.'  It  is  the  word  of  a  gentleman  of  the 
most  sacred  and  strictest  honor,  and  there  is  an  end  on't. 
I  will  not  cross  (the  River  Zambesi)  furtively  by  night, 
as  I  intended.  It  would  appear  as  flight ;  and  should 
such  a  man  as  I  flee  ?     Nay,  verily,  I  shall  take  observa- 


THE   CAKE    FOR    GOD's    PROPHET    FIRST.  153 

tions  for  latitude  and  longitude  to-night,  though  they  may 
be  my  last.  I  feel  quite  calm  now,  tliank  God!"  So 
found  John  G.  Paton,  among  the  savages  of  Tanna.  He 
thus  records  an  instance :  "  Dangers  again  darkened 
round  me.  One  day,  while  toiling  away  at  my  house,  the 
war  chief,  his  brother,  and  a  large  party  of  armed  men 
surrounded  the  plot  where  I  was  working.  They  all  had 
muskets,  besides  their  own  native  weapons.  They 
watched  me  for  some  time  in  silence,  and  then  every  man 
levelled  a  musket  straigiit  at  my  head.  Escape  was  im- 
possible. Speech  would  only  have  increased  my  danger. 
My  eyesight  came  and  went  for  a  few  moments.  I  prayed 
to  my  Lord  Jesus  either  himself  to  protect  me,  or  to  take 
me  home  to  his  glory.  I  t''ied  to  keep  working  on  at  my 
task  as  if  no  one  was  near  me.  In  that  moment,  as  never 
before,  the  words  came  to  me,  '  AVhatsoever  ye  shall  ask 
in  my  name  I  will  do  it ' ;  and  I  knew  that  I  was  safe." 

But  who  am  I,  that  I  should  talk  thus  of  the  mission- 
ary's life  of  faith  in  the  presence  of  those  who  have 
known,  with  Elijah,  the  testing  of  exile,  and  have  made 
proof  of  its  trials?  Speak,  veterans  of  the  cross !  You, 
of  all  men,  are  the  most  eloquent  witnesses  that  the 
prophet's  life  is  ceaselessly  a  life  of  faith. 

But  what  of  that  poor  widow,  to  whom  Elijah's  mes- 
sage came  ?  Was  there  not  a  testing  of  her  faith  too,  in 
that  audacious  summons,  "  Make  me  a  little  cake  first,  and 
after  make  for  thee  and  for  thy  son  "  ?  Have  you  ever 
read  the  quaint  comment  of  Bishop  Hall  upon  that  de- 
mand :  "  Oh,  wliat  a  trial  is  this  of  the  faith  of  a  Aveak 
proselyte,  if  she  were  so  much  !  She  must  go  spend 
upon  a  stranger  part  of  that  little  she  hath,  in  hope  of 
more  that  she  hath  not,  which  she  mav  have.     She  must 


154  CENTEXARY    MISSIOXAllY    ADDKESSE.S. 

part  "with  her  present  food  which  she  saw,  in  trust  of 
future  which  she  could  not  see.  She  must  rob  her  sense 
in  the  exercise  of  her  belief,  and  shorten  her  life  in  being, 
upon  the  hope  of  a  protraction  of  it  in  promise.  She 
must  believe  that  God  will  miraculously  increase  what 
she  hath  yielded  to  consume.  She  must  first  feed  the 
stranger  with  her  last  victuals,  and  then  after,  herself  and 
her  son.  Some  sharp  dame  would  have  taken  up  the 
prophet  and  have  sent  him  away  with  an  angry  repulse  : 
'Bold  Israelite  !  tliere  is  no  reason  in  this  request.  Wert 
thou  a  friend  or  a  brother,  with  what  face  could  thou  re- 
quire to  pull  my  last  bit  out  of  my  mouth?  Had  I 
superfluity  of  provision  thou  mightest  hope  for  this  effect 
of  my  charity.  .  .  Thou  tellest  me  the  meal  shall  not 
waste,  nor  the  oil  fail ;  how  shall  I  believe  thee  ?  Let 
me  see  that  done  before  thou  eatest.  .  .  If  thou  canst  so 
easily  multiply  victuals,,  how  is  it  tliat  thou  wantest  ? 
Do  that  beforehand  which  thou  promisest  shall  be  after- 
ward performed ;  and  there  shall  be  no  need  of  my 
little.'  " 

Here,  then,  is  our  second  lesson  :  The  life  of  those  who 
are  appointed  of  God  to  sustain  his  prophets  is  a  life  of 
faith.  They  are  required,  in  the  exercise  of  their  benefi- 
cence, as  the  stewards  of  God's  gifts,  to  walk,  not  by 
sight,  nor  by  reason  only,  but  by  faith.  They  are  asked 
to  put  God's  prophets  first ;  themselves  and  their  children 
after.  To  put  him  first,  because  he  is  God's  prophet ; 
and  God,  the  giver  of  their  store,  will  have  him  sus- 
tained. That  they  have  but  little,  is  no  reason  why  they 
should  put  self  before  the  prophet.  The  poor,  no  less 
than  the  rich,  are  taught  to  pray,  ''  Thy  kingdom  come," 
before  they  ask  for  daily  bread  ;    and  as  we  pray  we 


THE    CAKE    FOR    GOD's    PPwOrHET    EIEST.  155 

should  act.  They  who  can  offer  no  larger  gift  are  under 
the  same  obligation  to  prefer  God  in  their  dovecotes  as 
the  lord  of  the  manor  is  to  give  the  fir.--tliugs  of  his  stall 
or  his  fold.  The  widow,  in  her  lonely  struggle,  made 
still  more  strait  by  her  dependent  son,  is  as  much  sul)ject 
to  God's  summons  as  the  wife  whose  husband  still  fills 
her  purse. 

Nor  are  they  to  be  excused  who  are  but  recently,  and 
as  yet  imperfectly,  Christians.  The  woman  of  Zarephath 
in  heathen  Phoenicia  is  called  of  God  to  nourish  his 
prophet.  That  missionary  is  false  to  the  divine  plan 
who  forgets  to  teach  the  convert  from  heathenism  that 
the  blessedness  of  the  new  life  is  not  in  something  re- 
ceived only ;  but  even  more,  in  what  is  given.  In  Asia 
and  Africa,  as  well  as  in  America  and  Europe,  "  It  is 
more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive."  True  as  all  this 
is,  however,  is  it  not  tlie  fact  that,  as  a  rule,  the  poor  are 
more  ready  to  recognize  this  obligation  than  the  rich? 
That  the  Christians  lately  heathen  are  more  prompt  in  its 
discharge  than  the  Christians  who  were  born  to  the  heri- 
tage, and  live  amid  the  opportunities  of  civilization? 
How  often  do  the  offerings  of  the  poor  shame  the  gifts 
of  the  rich  !  From  the  almost  empty  barrel  of  many  a 
widow  comes  an  offering  more  free,  more  generous,  the 
sign  of  a  larger  faith  and  the  token  of  a  less  calculating 
love,  than  the  gifts  of  many  wealthy  persons,  who  cast 
into  the  treasury  of  the  Loi'd  only  a  pittance  from  their 
superfluity.  Karens  in  Burma  ;  the  Christian  Congoese, 
still  half  savage ;  tlie  low-caste,  iadigent  Telugus,  are 
readier  to  make  the  prophet's  cake  from  their'  handful, 
than  some  in  Christian  lands  who  could  well  afford  to 
bake  loaves  for  his  nourishment.     The  life  of  faith,  as 


156  CEKTE^ARY    MISSIONARY    ADDEESSEfc. 

it  is  related  to  the  consecration  of  substance  to  the  service 
of  God,  is  of  larger  growth,  sometimes,  in  hut  than  in 
palace. 

And  what  of  this  lifa  of  faith  as  it  is  related  to  the 
questions  of  administration  upon  the  great  field  of  mis- 
sions ?  Have  our  executive  committees  and  Boards  of 
management  no  lesson  to  learn  at  Zare[)hath?  Surely  the 
widow's  barrel  almost  exhausted,  the  widow's  cruse 
nearly  dry,  have  their  frequent  parallel  in  administrative 
experience.  Surely  too,  the  widow's  lieroic  faith  might 
teach  officials,  if  they  will  ponder  its  significance,  that  cold- 
blooded calculation  may  not  always  control  expenditure. 
There  is  place  for  the  heroism  of  a  missionary  faith  in 
the  council  chamber  also.  Faith  has  her  ventures  in 
financial  administrations,  as  in  other  realms.  There  too, 
sometimes,  the  proverb  holds,  "  Nothing  ventured,  noth- 
ing won."  There  are  emergencies  in  the  lives  of  proph- 
ets, famine  epochs  in  the  course  of  God's  providence,  when 
they  who  would  administer  wisely  must  execute  in  faith. 
Too  often,  at  such  times,  as  Dr.  A.  J.  Gordon  said  so 
finely  in  that  remarkable  paper,  in  the  October  (1891) 
number  of  ''  The  Missionary  Review  of  the  World,"  en- 
titled "  The  Faith  Element  in  Missions  " — too  often  in 
times  of  emergency,  "  Prudence  sits  over  against  the 
treasury  watching  the  expenditures  to  see  that  faith  does 
not  overdraw  her  account."  More  and  more,  therefore, 
we  must  keep  in  mind  that  the  matter  of  money  for  mis- 
sions is  matter  of  faith. 

Funds  are  already  in  the  hands  of  those  who  are  God's 
appointed  stewards  sufficient  to  send  every  missionary 
who  ought  to  go,  and  to  evangelize  every  people  as  yet 
unreached  by  the  gospel.     Why,  then,  does  not  money 


THE   CAKE   FOR   GOd's    PIIOPHET   FIRST.  157 

flow  in  steady  stream  into  the  treasury  of  the  Lord,  until 
there  is  enough  and  to  spare  ?  There  is  only  one  answer  : 
God's  people  are  weak  in  faith.  They  have  not  yet  risen 
to  that  height  of  daring;  confidence  in  God  to  which  this 
Phoenician  proselyte  attained  under  a  former  and  less 
luminous  dispensation  of  God's  truth  and  love.  AVe,  who 
have  seen  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus  Christ, 
are  actually  behind  many  to  whom  that  siglit  was  never 
given,  in  the  confidence  of  our  faith,  in  our  consecration, 
in  our  spirituality.  AVe  prefer  ourselves  as  creditors  in 
our  accounting  with  God.  We  must  take  care  of  '''  number 
one,"  whether  God's  prophet  is  cared  for  or  not.  When 
we  are  not  wliolly  selfish  in  our  administration  of  our 
substance,  we  are  timid,  calculating,  over-shrewd.  The 
lesson  taught  us  by  the  Zareptan  widow  is  the  lesson  of 
a  wise  daring  in  the  surrender  of  what,  unless  God 
were,  and  were  true,  it  would  be  the  rankest  folly  to 
give. 

The  money  question  is,  after  all,  a  spiritual  question  so 
far  as  missions  are  concerned.  The  question  of  finance, 
also,  is  a  question  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Given  pentecostal 
blessing,  and  pentecostal  consecration  of  property  will 
follow.  No  one  but  the  Holy  Spirit  can  overcome  the 
natural  and  ingrained  avarice  of  some  of  the  members 
of  our  churches.  No  one  but  the  Holy  Spirit  can  incite 
souls  to  that  degree  of  faith  which  will  lead  them  to  set 
at  defiance  the  dictates  of  selfishness,  the  maxims  of 
worldly  policy,  the  suggestions  of  over-catitious  prudence. 
If  we  are  to  dare  for  Jesus  as  he  deserves,  in  the  sur- 
render of  our  substance,  our  minds  must  be  illumined,  our 
liearts  inflamed,  our  wills  impelled  by  the  unselfish  Spirit, 
part  of  whose  glory  as  a  divine  Person  is,  tliat  he  prefers 
14 


158  CE^■TE:SARY    MISilONAIlY    ADDEE-.SES. 

the  Son  to  himself  in  his  administration  of  his  own  powers, 
in  tlie  manifestation  of  his  own  life. 

What,  finally,  of  tlie  issue  to  which  this  widow's  testing 
came?  The  sacrifice  made  was  abundantly  rewarded. 
As  Bishop  Hall  says,  once  more  :  "  Happy  was  it  for  this 
widow  that  she  did  not  shut  her  hand  to  this  man  of  God  ; 
that  she  was  no  niggard  of  her  last  handful.  Never  corn 
or  oil  did  so  increase  in  growing,  as  here  in  consuming. 
This  barrel,  this  cruse  of  hers,  had  no  bottom.  The  barrel 
of  meal  wasted  not,  the  cruse  of  oil  failed  not.  Behold  ! 
not  getting,  not  saving,  is  the  M'ay  to  abundance,  but 
giv'ing.  The  mercy  of  our  God  crowns  our  beneficence 
with  the  blessing  of  store.  Who  can  fear  want  by  a  merci- 
ful liberality  when  he  sees  the  Zareptan  had  famished  if 
she  had  not  given,  and  by  giving  abounded  ?  " 

Here,  then,  is  our  third  lesson  :  God  rewards  the  faith 
of  his  prophets  and  their  supporters  by  gifts  which  enlarge 
still  further  the  disposition  toward  its  exercise.  "■  There 
is  that  scattereth  and  yet  increaseth."  "  Give,  and  it  shall 
be  given  unto  you,  good  meastire,  pressed  down,  shaken 
too-ether,  runnins;  over."  God  delights  to  meet  faith  with 
supernatural  response,  to  bestow  upon  it  idtra-natural 
reward.  She  who  gave  a  cake  when  she  was  about  to 
starve,  and  preferred  God's  prophet  to  herself  and  her 
son,  found  that  God  would  not  leave  her  without  a  wit- 
ness of  his  power  and  love  in  another  and  even  darker 
extremity.  She  who  pinched  herself  and  her  son  for  the 
kingdom  of  God,  received  her  son  back  again  from  the 
dead,  at  the  prophet's  hand. 

Still,  there  is  reason  to  expect  the  fulfillment  of  Mala- 
chi's  prophecy  :  "  Bring  ye  all  the  tithes  into  the  store- 
house, that  there  may  be  meat  in  my  house,  and  prove 


THE   CAKE   FOR   GOD's   PROPHET   FIRST.  159 

me  now  herewith,  saith  the  Lord  of  Hosts,  if  I  will  not 
open  you  the  windows  of  heaven,  and  pour  you  out  a 
blessing  that  there  shall  not  be  room  enough  to  receive 
it."  So  that  the  converse  of  what  was  before  said  is  true. 
The  way  to  secure  a  new  Pentecost  is  to  enlarge  our  gifts. 
Those  of  us  who  are  in  any  degree  partakers  of  the  spirit 
of  power,  must  put  God  to  the  proof  for  a  wider,  a  larger 
blessing.  If  we  expect  him  to  grant  us,  for  the  sake  of 
the  church  yet  unconsecrated  and  the  world  yet  unsaved, 
some  new  and  surprising  access  of  spiritual  power,  we 
must  make  to  him  some  demonstration  of  our  faith,  daring 
in  its  heroism,  splendid  in  its  measure,  uncalculating  in 
its  generous  denial  of  self.  Are  we  ready  to  do  it? 
Shall  the  centennial  of  modern  missions  furnish  the 
occasion  ? 


XIII. 
THE  IMPELLING  VISION. 

(Acts  16:  6-10.) 

REV.  PHILIP  L.  JONES, 
Philadelphia. 

Let  me  briefly  review  the  circumstances  of  the 
apostle  immediately  preceding  the  facts  recorded  in  the 
passage  indicated  above,  on  which  this  address  is  based. 
Paul  was  on  his  second  missionary  journey.  Human 
infirmity  had  separated  him  from  Barnabas,  the  friend 
and  companion  of  his  first  successful  tour.  To  supply 
the  deficiency  thus  created,  Paul  associated  Avith  himself 
Silas,  one  of  the  messengers  of  the  council  of  Jerusalem 
to  the  Christians  assembled  at  Antioch,  and  who  remained 
there  enamored  seemingly  of  evangelistic  and  missionary 
work.  Together  Paul  and  this  new  helper  set  forth, 
commended  "  by  the  brethren  to  the  grace  of  the  Lord," 
after  Barnabas  had  set  sail  for  Cyprus.  Tliey  journeyed 
northwestward  and  came  to  Derbe  and  Lystra.  Vivid 
memories  came  to  the  apostle  at  this  latter  place.  Here 
he  had  been  stoned  and  left  for  dead.  Here  afterward 
most  bravely  he  had  returned  and  confirmed  the  disciples 
whom  he  had  won.  Here  now  God  had  a  blessed  conso- 
lation for  him.  Here  he  found  Timothy,  destined  to  be 
to  him  a  son  and  helper  as  none  other  ever  was,  converted 
to  the  Lord  perhaps  by  the  spectacle  of  his  OAvn  dauntless 
heroism.  Ah,  so  often  God  transforms  the  field  of  our 
suffering  into  the  arena  of  our  victory  I  This  young  dis- 
ciple Paul  would  add  to  his  company.  And  he  took  and 
160 


THE    IMPELLING    VISION.  1  (U 

circumcised  him  for  the  Lord's  cause,  as  before  he  had 
declined  to  circumcise  Titus  for  the  same  cause  (Gal.  2  : 
1-3).  Consistent  inconsistency.  Blessed  is  the  man 
Avho  when  the  right  leads,  above  the  law  of  the  letter 
can  discern  the  more  dominant  law  of  the  spirit. 

With  his  company  thus  augmented  Paul  went  onward. 
And  as  he  went  he  delivered  the  decrees  of  the  first 
church  council,  and  strengthened  the  churches — made 
them  solid  in  the  faith.  He  Avent  in  the  name  and  might 
of  the  Lord,  and  the  Lord  blessed  him. 

From  the  confirmation  of  his  previous  work  in  Lystra, 
and  with  the  reinforcements  it  had  brought  him,  Paul 
turned  northward  and  then  east  and  west  of  north,  and 
"  went  through  the  region  of  Phrygia  and  Galatia."  Of 
his  ministry  in  the  former  province,  which  we  are  told 
was  not  at  this  time  susceptible  of  any  definite  geographi- 
cal limits,  we  have  no  record.  That  he  visited  Colossse 
at  the  extreme  southwest  of  the  possible  boundaries  of 
this  province,  as  maintained  by  some,  is  declared  by  Dean 
Alford  to  be  "  very  improbable."'  AYe  know  far  more  of 
Paul's  Avork  among  the  Galatians,  however,  those  Celtic 
or  Gallic  tribes  that  "  emigrated  eastward  into  Asia 
INlinor  "  nearly  three  centuries  before  the  Christian  era. 

The  historian  of  the  Acts,  it  is  true,  is  silent  regarding 
this  work  ;  but  the  apostle  himself  tell  us  of  it  in  his 
letter  to  the  Galatian  Christians.  He  was  detained  here 
much  longer  than  he  had  planned  ;  perhaps  bv  some 
bodily  infirmity,  of  which  he  speaks.  He  was  received 
with  a  welcome,  warm  and  outspoken.  Even  their  eyes 
these  converts  would  have  plucked  out  and  given  him 
had  it  been  possible.  Many  were  turned  from  their  de- 
votion to  idols  by  him,  and  some  from  the  formalism  and 


162  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

lifelessness  of  the  Jews,  and  the  Galatian  churches  were 
founded.     Having  finished  his  ministry  here  for  the  time, 
Paul  retraced  his  steps  through  the  province,  doubtful 
in  regard  to  his  next  field  of  labor.     He  was  "  forbidden 
of  the  Holy  Spirit," — "  hindered  summarily  "  by  him — 
to  preach  the  w^ord  in  Asia,  the  Roman  province  of  that 
name  lying  along   the  ^gean   Sea.     AVonderfully  this 
supremacy  of  the  Roman  eagles  aided  in  advancing  the 
supremacy  of  Jesus  Christ.     "  Every  province  conquered 
by   the   emperor,"    Renan    says,    "  was   a   conquest    for 
Christianity." '     So   masterfidly    does   God    use   uncon- 
scious instrumentalities  to  forward  his  purposes.     But  it 
was  the  Spirit^s  will  that  at  this  time  the  gospel  should 
not  be  preached  in  this  Roman  province.     In  doubt  still 
as  to  his    course,  for  the   Spirit  neither  then    nor  now 
will    make  plain  the  Avhole  path  of  a  man  at   once,  he 
passed  by  ISIysia,  and  "  essayed,  tried  by  way  of  experi- 
ment, to  go  into  Bithynia,"  the  territory  lying  to  the 
northeast.     But  again  he  was  prevented.     The  Spirit — 
the  Spirit  of  Jesus,  the  Revised  Version  says — making 
known  his  will  by  some  internal  impulse,  or  by  some  ex- 
ternal intimation,  "  suffered  them  not."     And  so,  passing 
by   Mysia,   not  as  avoiding   it,   but  as  regarding  their 
work  done  concerning  it,  they  came  to  Troas  by  the  sea. 
"  Paul  was  now  " — says  Stalker,  as  quoted  by  Dr.  Clark — 
"  within  the  charmed  circle  where  for  ages  civilization 
had  had  its  home ;  and  he  could  not  be  entirely  ignorant 
of  these  stories  of  war  and  enterprise  which  have  made  it 
forever  bright  and  dear  to  the  heart  of  mankind." 

Can  we  doubt  that  the  apostle  so  cultured  in  the  Avisdom 
of  the  world  upon  which  he  would  not  depend,  and  so 
"  1  The  Apostlos,  p.  238. 


THE   IMPELLING    VISION.  163 

susceptible  to  local  influences  which  he  could  always 
command,  had  his  soul  fired  by  great  thoughts  of  the 
opportunities  lying  just  beyond  the  horizon?  Yonder, 
just  across  the  narrow  sea,  was  Greece — classic,  storied, 
immortal  Greece.  Athens  was  there,  and  Corinth  and 
Philippi.  Did  the  restraining  elsewhere  mean  a  beckon- 
ing hitherward?  Would  the  Christ,  crowned  now  by 
many  a  Jew,  be  homaged  by  the  Greek  as  well  ?  These 
thoughts  we  are  sure  must  have  come  to  him. 

And  then  in  the  night  a  vision  came.  In  his  dream  or 
in  an  ecstasy,  it  matters  little  which,  a  man  stood  before 
him.  Because  of  some  peculiarity  of  garb  or  speech,  or 
because  of  the  past  supremacy  of  the  province,  he  was 
denoted  as  from  Macedonia.  "  Come  over  and  help  us," 
the  figure  said  appealingly,  imploringly.  The  vision  of 
the  night  inspired  action  when  the  day  came.  "We 
straightway  sought  to  go  forth  into  Macedonia,"  the 
historian  says,  changing  abruptly  from  the  third  person 
singular  to  the  first  person  plural,  because  he,  Luke,  had 
joined  himself  as  companion,  or  as  physician,  or  as  both, 
to  the  apostle.  We  sought — that  is  for  means  by  which 
to  cross  the  sea — to  go  to  Macedonia,  "  Concluding  that 
God  had  called  us  for  to  preach  the  gospel  unto  them." 

All  doubt  and  uncertainty  had  vanished,  and  by  the 
direct  guidance  of  God  the  pathway  of  the  first  great 
foreign  missionary  after  Jesus  Christ  was  made  plain. 

1.  Notice  as  one  especial  thought — The  direct  Divine 
guidance  of  the  apostle. 

(1)  See  the  agent  of  it.  This  was  the  Holy  Ghost — 
the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Holy  Ghost  forbade  them  to  speak 
the  word  in  Asia,  and  the  Spirit  of  Jesus — the  Holy 
Spirit  still — would  not  suifer  them  to  go  into  Bithynia, 


164  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

which  they  attempted  to  do.  Whatever  may  be  our  view 
of  tlie  being  of  the  Holy  Spirit, — whether  it  is  that  it  is 
modal,  as  some  think ;  or  essentially  personal,  as  most  be- 
lieve,— the  ministry  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  real,  and  in  the 
formation  and  missionary  activities  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment churches  was  universal.  It  was  the  Holy  Spirit 
who  brought  the  thousands  to  their  knees  on  the  day  of 
Pentecost,  as  it  was  he  in  whose  comfort  the  churches 
walked  and  were  multiplied.  It  Avas  the  Holy  Spirit 
Mdio  sent  Philip  southward  toward  Gaza  to  meet  the 
Ethiopian,  and  it  was  he  who,  when  the  evangelist's 
work  was  done  in  the  desert,  dispatched  him  at  once  to 
Azotus  "  to  preach  in  all  the  cities  till  he  came  to 
Ceesarea."  It  was  the  Holy  Ghost  who  said  to  the 
church  at  Antioch,  "  Separate  me  Barnabas  and  Saul,"  as 
it  was  he  who  prohibited  Asia  to  the  latter  that  he  might 
turn  his  face  toward  Troas.  Have  we  in  these  days 
somehow,  without  intending  it,  and  while  conscious  of  the 
fact  not  knowing  so  well  how  to  remedy  the  defect,  lost 
our  grip  on  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  so  have  cut  the  sinews 
of  our  power  ?  "  The  weakness  of  this  age,"  I  heard 
the  president  of  one  of  our  theological  seminaries  say 
awhile  since,  "  is  its  lack  of  dependence  on  the  Holy 
Spirit." 

But  without  dwelling  on  the  general  fact,  which  is 
deplorable  as  it  is  disastrous,  is  there  no  lesson  for  us  in 
regard  to  our  missionary  operations  in  that  direct  guid- 
ance of  the  apostle  by  this  power  from  on  high  ?  No 
board,  no  committee,  no  church  even,  issued  instructions 
to  this  apostolic  missionary,  and  told  him  where  to  go. 
And  yet  could  either  or  all  have  added  aught  to  the  wis- 
dom that  shaped  his  course?     I  know  the  present,  in 


THE   IMPELLING   VISION.  165 

this  as  in  other  things,  must  needs  differ  vastly  from  the 
past  which  we  are  considering.  We  have  our  compli- 
cated machinery  now.  We  must  have  it,  probably.  By 
no  word  of  mine  would  I  throw  discredit  on  its  instru- 
mentalities, nor  diminish  aught  of  its  influence.  Nay, 
rather  would  I  augment  the  efficiency  of  both.  And  yet 
do  we  not  sometimes  substitute  red  tape  for  inspiration  ? 
Do  Ave  not  sometimes  adhere  to  our  plans  forgetting  that 
some  things  may  be  planned  otherwise  than  by  us?  Do 
we  not  often  emphasize  unduly  the  spirit  of  man,  not 
watching  sufficiently  meanwhile  whither  the  Spirit  of 
Jesus  may  lead  ?  Paul  might  need  his  orders  from  Anti- 
och ;  it  Mas  better  if  he  could  get  them  direct  from  God. 
(2)  Note  the  method  of  this  guidance.  It  came  in  tiie 
form  of  hindrance  first.  Paul  was  hindered  from  enter- 
ing Asia,  and  Bithynia,  and  Mysia,  toward  which  he  had 
set  his  face.  God  frequently  begins  in  tliis  way  with  his 
servants ;  but  he  does  not  stop  with  hindering.  Nega- 
tions are  not  enough  for  him.  Don't  is  an  initial,  and 
not  a  final  term  in  God's  vocabulary.  "  Thou  shalt  not " 
belongs  to  the  decalogue  ;  "  thou  shalt"  to  the  gospel.  He 
tears  down  that  he  may  build  up.  He  stops  that  he  may 
advance.  He  closes  here  that  he  may  open  there.  He 
keeps  his  servant  from  Bithynia  that  he  may  send  him 
into  Macedonia.  Carey  might  not  go  to  the  South  Sea 
Islands  that  lie  may  do  his  mighty  work  among  the 
Bengalese.  The  ostracism  of  a  commercial  company 
bars  Judson  from  India  that  in  Burma  the  pagodas  of 
Buddha  might  give  place  to  the  chapels  of  Christ.  If 
your  Avay  seems  hedged,  be  not  impatient,  much  less  rebel- 
lious. Wait.  If  the  east  be  closed,  the  west  may  open. 
God  turns  back  but  to  help  forward. 


16(3  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

By  an  open  vision  again,  this  guidance  showed  itself. 
There  on  the  shores  of  the  ^gean,  amid  scenes  crowded 
with  history,  faced  by  a  land  just  beyond  the  horizon 
more  historic  still — in  the  night  a  man  from  Macedonia 
came,  and  stood  beseechingly  by  Paul,  and  said,  or  seemed 
to  say,  "  Come  ov^er  into  Macedonia  and  help  us." 
AVords  these  are  that  have  prefaced  more  calls  for  'mis- 
sionary service  than  any  other  ever  penned  or  uttered. 
"  Come  over  and  help  us."  Historic  epoch-making 
vision.  "  On  this  momentous  event  hung  the  Christian- 
ization  of  Europe,  and  all  the  blessings  of  modern  civili- 
zation." ^ 

What  was  this  figure  whose  coming  was  so  moment- 
ous to  the  church  ?  Some  would  seem  to  give  him  an 
objective  reality  before  the  apostle,  and  regard  him  as 
expressing  the  actual  desires  and  longings  of  the  region 
whence  he  came. 

"  In  the  person  of  the  '  Man  of  Macedonia,'  "  says  Dr. 
Arnot,  "  Greece  and  Rome  invite  the  apostles  of  the  cross. 
Weary  and  empty,  the  warriors,  artists,  and  philosophers 
of  the  empire  thirst  for  the  living  water.  Europe  on  the 
west,  as  Ethiopia  on  the  south,  humbly  stretches  out  her 
hands  to  God."  ^ 

Did  the  actual  condition  match  these  eloquent  words  ? 
We  may  be  helped  to  an  answer  if  we  recall  the  fact  that 
no  crowds  of  "  weary  and  empty  "  ones  greeted  the  apostle 
and  his  companions  as  they  landed  on  the  west  shore  of 
the  Jl^gean,  and  that  their  first  convert  was  not  a  man  of 
Macedonia  at  all,  but  Lydia  of  Thyatira,  an  Asiatic,  a 
woman.     None  the  less  gratifying,  for  neither  of   these 

1  Schaif's  Apostolic  Church,  Book  I,  p.  262. 

2  The  Church  in  the  House,  p.  281. 


THE   IMPELLING   VISION.  167 

facts  was  this  first  conquest  on  European  shores ;  but 
both  of  these  facts  -would  seem  to  indicate  that  to  con- 
sider this  vision  of  Paul  truly,  we  must  consider  it  other- 
wise than  as  objective. 

It  was  the  form  of  Jesug  Christ,  some  have  said,  ap- 
pearing to  the  apostle  in  trance  or  dream,  and  assuming 
therein  the  form  of  those  whom  he  would  have  his 
servant  hasten  to  help.  In  a  sense  we  may  grant  this 
true — in  the  sense  that  Jesus  is  in  all  who  need  his  help 
— in  the  sense  too,  that  the  Spirit  of  Jesus  did  not 
turn  his  baffled  messenger  from  Asia  and  Bithynia  to 
leave  him  to  himself  when  he  had  arrived  at  Troas. 
The  moving  hand  of  the  Master  was  equally  in  the  pro- 
hibition and  the  invitation.  But  why  bring  in  the  super- 
natural where  the  natural  will  meet  the  conditions,  save 
as  everywhere  and  ever  the  supernatural  is  above  the 
natural,  as  the  heavens  are  above  the  earth. 

Let  me  suggest  this  as  the  explanation  of  this  beseech- 
ing Macedonian.  Our  waking  thoughts  project  them- 
selves in  dreams,  and  get  therein  sometimes  a  diviner 
touch. 

As  angels  in  some  brigliter  dreams 

Call  to  the  soul  when  man  doth  sleep, 
So  some  strange  thouglits  transcend  our  wonted  themes 

And  into  glory  peep. — Henry  Vauglian. 

Paul  stood  fronted  by  a  new,  strange  land.  He  had 
been  hindered  from  going  whither  he  would.  Before 
him  were  wondrous  opportunities.  We  cannot  deem  him 
ignorant  of  the  history  that  centred  in  the  land  beyond 
the  sea  nor  of  the  people  who  had  played  their  part 
therein.  He  doubtless  longed  to  carry  them  the  gospel. 
And  then  in  the  night,  his  thoughts  divinely  touched. 


1G8  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

"  Transcend  their  wonted  tliemes/'  and  the  man  of  jNIace- 
donia  stood  before  him,  saying,  "  Come  over  and  help 
us  " — run  to  the  aid  of  those  who  cry  for  help. 

So  the  men  of  the  New  Hebrides  appeared  before 
John  G.  Paton.  So  Mackay,  of  Uganda,  saw  the  people 
of  Central  Africa.  So  the  Burmese  extended  their  hands 
to  Judson.  And  so  likewise  the  Telugus  theirs  to  Day 
and  Jewett,  Clough  and  Downie.  And  so  will  it  con- 
tinue, the  needful  stretching  out  their  hands  to  the  need- 
less, those  who  have  not  beseeching  those  who  liave,  until 
the  terms  of  the  Great  Commission  shall  have  been  com- 
pletely obeyed  and  the  gospel  have  been  everywhere 
preached  as  a  witness  to  the  peoples  of  the  world. 

And  so  too,  as  this  figure  was  not  objective,  it  was  not 
wholly  individual.  It  was  more  than  that.  "  Men  make 
man,"  Dr.  Joseph  Parker  has  said.  This  was  not  a  man 
but  humanity.  It  was  humanity  too,  beckoning  aid  to 
the  whole  area  of  its  needs.  Has  there  been  a  time,  alike 
in  our  home  and  foreign  work,  when  a  part  has  seemed 
greater  than  the  whole  ?  When  in  the  gospel,  the  promise 
of  the  life  that  is  to  cume  has  largely  if  not  wholly  over- 
borne the  promise  of  that  which  now  is?  If  this  has 
been  so,  it  is  so  no  longer,  at  least  to  the  same  extent. 
The  equipment  and  multiplication  of  the  medical  mis- 
sionary, and  the  added  emphasis  laid  upon  educational 
work,  prove  how  true  that  statement  is  as  to  our  work 
abroad,  while  numerous  and  increasing  remedial  measures 
having  reference  to  the  lower  life  indicate  its  equal  truth 
as  to  that  at  home.  You  very  likely  will  not  agree  with 
me  when  I  say  :  Grant,  for  the  sake  of  the  argument,  that 
the  New  Theology  is  right,  and  the  shadow  of  the  life  on 
earth  does  not  of  necessity  project  itself  into  eternity  to 


THE    IMPELLING    VlfclON. 


169 


be  perpetuated  there  with  an  ever-growing  hideousness 
and   gloom— are,  therefore,  the  motive  and  inspiration 
eliminated   from  missionary  effort  wl^ether  at  home  or 
abroad  ?     I  cannot  so  believe.     I  cannot  so  feel.     Is  it 
nothing  to  preach  the  gospel  to  the  poor,  even  if  its  riches 
were  stored  in  no  other  than  an  earthly  treasury  ?    Would 
it  be  nothing  to  give  the  garment  of  praise  for  the  spirit 
of  heaviness  even  though  this  life  alone  were  involved 
in  the  relief?    In   the  latest  product   in  fiction  of  the 
slceptical  thought  of  the  day,  and  which    is   as   perni- 
cious in  its  influence  as  it  is  able  in  its  discussions,  I  find 
this  sentence  :  "  There  never  was  an  honest  invigorating 
duty  predicated  on  the  hypothesis  of  another  life,  that 
does  not  stand  out  boldly  as  a  duty  if  this  life  is  all."^ 
I    know    we   are   not    closed  within    such    narrow    con- 
fines as  this  life  alone  offers.      The  vista  of  hope  and 
destiny  is  infinitely  more  far-reaching  than  that.     But 
even  though  it  Avere  not,  the  Macedonian  figure  would 
still  beckou  us,  and  we  should  have  motive  to  prompt  us 
to  his  help  whether  he  stand  amid  the  shadows  of  the 
old  world  or  in  the  turbid  depths  so  rapidly  forming  in 
the  new. 

2.  We  have  the  human  response  to  the  divine  monition. 
(1)  It  was  an  immediate  response  :  "  And  when  he  had 
seen  the  vision  straightway  v>-e  sought — sought  the  means 
whereby — to  go  forth  into  Macedonia."  There  was  no 
delav.  Immediately  they  sought  for  means  to  do  what  the 
vision  had  made  plain,  and  the  change  in  the  pronoun, 
from  the  third  person  singular  to  the  first  person  plural, 
indicates  that  the  historian  Luke  now  formed  one  of  the 
party.     He  knew  what  he  was  talking  about,  and  that 

Calinire,  p.  64G. 
13 


170  CENTEXAUr    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

there  was  the  utmost  clls[)atch  to  obey  the  Spirit's  bidc^iiig. 
We  so  often  temporize.  We  dilly-dally  and  falter  and 
hesitate,  and  the  voice  becomes  silent,  and  the  vision 
fades  out,  and  the  divine  monitions  pass  by,  and  we  are 
left  face  to  face  with  our  uncertainity  and  the  night;  and 
sometimes  because  of  this  we  doubt  if  the  Lord's  message 
has  come  to  us  at  all. 

(2)  It  was  an  evangelical  response,  that  which  Paul 
gave.  He  went  "  concluding  (from  putting  one  thing  with 
another)  that  God  had  called  (summoned)  us  to  preach 
the  gospel  (announce  the  good  tidings  of  the  gospel) 
unto  them."  He  was  not  a  messenger  of  philanthropy 
primarily,  but  of  regeneration.  He  did  not  go  to  attract 
men  with  captivating  forms  of  human  speech,  but  to 
make  them  wise  unto  salvation.  If  for  a  moment  he 
turned  away  from  this  amid  the  culture  of  Athens,  he 
speedily  turned  back  to  it  amid  the  corruptions  of 
Corinth.  The  path  he  trod  is  the  path  we  must  tread. 
Christ  is  before  all  and  beyond  all.  Whencesoever  the 
ethnic  religions  may  have  emanated,  Christ  is  the  substi- 
tute and  consummation  of  the  best,  of  which  their  highest 
thought  may  have  been  prophetic. 

Christ  was  the  end,  for  Christ  was  the  beginning  ; 
Christ  the  beginning,  for  the  end  was  Clnist. 

(3)  It  was  a  personal  response.  "  We  sought  to  go." 
"  The  vision  created  enthusiasm  and  that  enthusiasm  was 
contagious."  They  did  not  seek  to  answer  the  call  by  a 
small  donation.  They  went,  Paul  and  Silas  and  Timothy 
and  Luke.  They  went,  Carey  and  Judson  and  Hanning- 
ton.  They  went,  Vinton  and  Duff  and  Waterbury. 
They  went,  a  whole  host  of  them  no  less  worthy  of 
mention,    brave    men    and    true    women.       Thev     went. 


THE    IMPELLING    VISION.  171 

What  there  has  been  in  this  scIf-gWin^,  of  sundered  ties, 
of  severed  families,  of  shattered  health,  of  early  graves, 
of  heartache,  of  soul-ache,  only  God  can  know.  But 
always  where  this  personal  response  has  been  the  most 
rich,  the  harvests  ultimately  have  been  the  most  abund- 
ant. So  will  it  be  to  the  end.  The  gulf  between  God 
and  man  will  be  closed  by  men  rather  than  by  money. 

In  the  old  heroic  days  of  Rome  a  chasm  yawned  before 
the  city,  so  fable  tells.  Nothing  availed  to  close  it. 
At  length  the  oracle  said  it  would  yawn  still,  vast  and 
unsightly,  until  Rome's  most  precious  thing  was  cast  in. 
And  then  a  Roman  youth,  radiant  in  mien  and  armor, 
threw  himself  into  the  gulf  and  it  closed  and  was  seen  no 
more. 

Brethren,  the  most  precious  thing  among  men  is  man. 
And  where  the  chasm  of  sin  is,  be  it  in  Christendom  or 
in  heathenism,  be  it  far  away  or  close  at  hand,  it  will  not 
close  save  as  man  shall  enter  it.  The  offering  of  this 
essential  element  in  the  redemption  of  man  has  not  been 
so  abundant  as  it  should  have  been,  but  it  has  obtained 
in  a  wonderful  degree  nevertheless,  and  never  more 
abundantly  than  during  the  hundred  years  that  have 
elapsed  since  the  birth  of  modern  missions.  What  a 
roll-call  it  would  be  if  we  could  repeat  the  names  of  those 
M'ho  have  not  counted  their  lives  dear  unto  them  as  pitted 
against  the  cause  of  Christ.  Secular  battlefields  could 
tell  of  no  such  sacrifice,  of  no  such  heroism  as  their 
history  would  disclose.  And  the  supply  will  not  diminish 
but  enlarge.  Taat  in  part  is  what  is  meant  by  the  young 
peojale's  movement.  Christian  Endeavor,  and  the  Baptist 
Union,  and  the  King's  Daughters,  and  the  Student's 
Volunteer  Association  are  bringintj   the   flower   of  the 


172  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

country's  young  manliood  and  womanhood,  and  preparing 
to  consecrate  it  to  this  personal  ministry  for  men.  And 
the  continuation  of  this  method  of  giving  man  for 
men  is  in  exact  accord  with  the  beginning  of  the  gospel. 
Jesus  Christ  the  first  great  missionary  came.  A  man  in 
the  highest  sense  was  offered  for  men.  This  epitomizes 
redemption.  And  he  must  still  come.  He  must  still  go. 
Allied  to  his  consecrated  servants,  he  must  still  make  his 
soul  an  offering  for  sin.  Thus,  only  the  man  Jesus  can 
meet  the  man  from  Macedonia;  and  this  will  he  do,  until 
the  vision  of  the  natural  man  shall  fade  out  and  that  of 
the  redeemed  man  rise  up  in  his  place,  and  the  whole 
earth  be  filled  with  the  glory  of  the  Lord. 


XIV. 
TO  SAVE  ONE  WE  MUST  SAVE  ALL.' 

LEMUEL  MOSS,  D.  D.,  LL.  D. 
Minneapolis,  Minn. 

The  crowning  discovery  of  modern  physical  science  is 
the  unity  of  the  universe — the  oneness  of  all  things, 
visible  and  invisible,  in  this  great  universal  system  of 
matter  and  force  and  law.  The  telescope  and  the  photo- 
graph reveal  to  us  the  startling  fact  that  there  are  a  hun- 
dred million  suns  that  can  be  made  manifest  to  our  senses. 
And  there  is  a  conviction  abroad  that  this  vast  aggrega- 
tion of  a  hundred  million  suns  is  as  infinitesimal  in 
magnitude,  when  compared  with  tha  entire  universe,  as  is 
our  solar  system  when  compared  with  all  that  is  manifest 
in  the  majestic   heavens  above  us."^      But  we  are  also 

^This  address  is  here  given  from  the  stenographer's  notes.  No 
attempt  has  been  made  to  free  it  from  the  rhetorical  expressions  that 
characterize  it  as  a  spoken  rather  than  a  written  discourse. 

2  "Summon  up  to  your  imagination  the  most  distant  star  that  can 
be  seen  with  the  unaided  eye.  Then  think  of  the  minutest  star  that 
our  most  potent  telescope  can  disclose.  Think  of  the  tiniest  stellar 
point  of  light  which  could  possibly  be  depicted  on  the  most  sensitive 
photographic  plate  after  hours  of  exposure  to  the  heavens.  Think, 
indeed,  of  the  very  remotest  star,  which,  by  any  conceivable  device, 
can  be  rendered  perceptible  to  our  consciousness.  Doubtless  that  star 
is  thousands  of  billions  of  miles  from  the  earth  ;  doubtless  the  light 
from  it  requires  thousands  of  years,  and  some  astronomers  have  said 
millions  of  years,  to  span  the  abyss  which  intervenes  between  our 
globe  and  those  distant  regions.  I  do  not  speak  of  the  most  distant 
star  which  the  universe  may  possiblj'^  contain  ;  I  only  refer  to  the 
most  distant  star  that  we  can  possibly  bring  within  our  ken.    Imagine 

173 


174  CENTENARY    IMISSIONAPvY    ADDRESSES. 

assured  that,  however  far  it  may  be  to  the  rim  of  the 
universe,  all  is  bound  together  in  one.  Everywhere  there 
is  a  reign  of  law ;  but  the  reign  of  law  is  the  reign  of 
force;  antl  the  fundamental,  comprehensive,  controlling, 
unifying  force  is  the   force  of  attraction.     Now  we  ask 

a  great  sphere  to  be  described  with  its  centre  at  our  earth,  and  with  a 
radius  extending  all  the  way  from  the  earth  to  this  last  star  knowable 
by  man.  Every  star  that  we  can  see,  every  star  whose  existence 
becomes  disclosed  by  us  on  our  photographs,  lies  inside  this  sphere; 
as  to  the  orbs  which  may  lie  outside  that  sphere  we  can  know  nothing 
by  direct  observation.  The  imagination  doubtless  suggests,  with 
irresistible  emphasis,  that  this  outer  region  is  also  occupied  by  stars 
and  nebulae,  suns  and  worlds,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  interior  of 
that  mighty  sphere  whose  contents  are  more  or  less  accessible  to  our 
scrutiny.  It  would  do  utter  violence  to  our  notions  of  the  law  of 
continuity  to  assume  that  all  the  existent  matter  in  the  universe 
h^i.ppencd  to  lie  inside  this  sphere;  we  need  only  mention  such  a  sup- 
position before  we  dismiss  it  as  wholly  indefensible.  I  do  not  make 
any  attempt  to  express  the  number  of  miles  in  the  diameter  of  the 
sphere  which  limits  the  extent  of  space  known  directly  to  man. 
What  the  number  may  be  is  quite  immaterial  for  our  present  purpose. 
But  the  point  I  speciallj^  want  to  bring  out  is  that  the  volume  occu- 
pied by  this  stupendous  globe,  which  includes  within  it  all  possible 
visible  material,  must  be  but  a  speck  when  compared  with  the  space 
v>fhich"  contains  it.  Think  of  the  water  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean,  and 
think  of  the  water  in  a  single  drop.  As  the  drop  is  to  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  so  is  the  sphere  which  we  have  been  trying  to  conceive  in  the 
boundless  extent  of  space.  As  far  as  we  know  it  would  seem  that 
there  could  be  quite  as  many  of  such  spheres  in  space  as  there  are 
drops  of  water  in  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  .  .  When  we  remember  that, 
by  our  telescopes  and  on  our  photographs,  we  can  discern  something 
like  one  hundi-ed  millions  of  luminous  stars  in  the  skj' ;  and  when  v/e 
further  believe,  as  believe  we  must,  that  for  each  one  'star  which  we 
can  thus  see  there  must  be  a  stupendous  number  of  invisible  masses, 
then  indeed  we  begin  to  get  some  notion  of  the  extraordinary  multi- 
tude in  which  material  orbs  are  strown  through  space.  Even  within 
the  distance  which  can  be  penetrated  by  our  telescopes,  the  visible 
stars  cannot  form  the  hundredth,  probably  not  the  thousandth,  per- 
haps not  the  millionth  part  of  the  total  quantity  of  matter." — Sir 
Robert  Ball,  in  the  Fortnightly  Review  for  May,  1^93. 


TO   SAVE   ONE    WE    MUST   SAVE   ALL.  175 

ourselves,  as  we  seek  to  rise  to  this  high  conception  of  the 
material  universe,  iu  all  its  greatness,  in  all  its  splendor, 
and  in  all  its  unity,  if  this  is  not  a  parable  of  something 
higher  and  mightier  and  grander  than  itself. 

If  from  the  contemplation  of  mere  material  vastness 
and  grandeur  we  turn  to  the  study  of  the  relationship 
between  matter  and  life,  a  new  conception  of  inherent 
unity  dawns  upon  us.  Cuvier  could  take  a  structural 
bone  of  an  animal,  even  of  an  extinct  species,  and  recon- 
struct the  animal  in  its  habitat,  and  sketch  the  relation- 
ship of  its  individual  existence  to  the  whole  environment 
and  conditions  of  its  life.  Prof.  Huxley  can  take  a  piece 
of  chalk  and  make  it  tell  the  geology  of  the  earth,  and 
l)y  telling  the  constitution  of  the  earth,  tell  by  implication 
of  the  constitution  and  relationship  of  universal  matter 
and  life  as  well. 

Flower  iu  the  crannied  wail, 

I  pluck  you  out  of  the  crannies; 

I  hold  you  here,  root  and  all,  in  my  hand, 

Little  flower.     But  if  I  could  understand 

What  you  are,  root  and  all,  and  all  in  all, 

I  should  know  what  God  and  man  is. — Tennyson. 

Such  is  the  relationship  of  life  and  the  unity  of  exist- 
ence, and  the  interdependence  of  all  things ;  for  in  this 
solidarity^  of  the  universe,  everything  runs  into  every- 
thing, and  each  implies  the  whole.  As  we  struggle  to 
grasp  and  comprehend  tiiis  higher  and  more  majestic 
thought,  we  ask,  "  Is  not  this  also  a  parable  ?  " 

Again,  We  look  at  the  relationship  of  man  to  man. 

1  ^^  Solidarity  (a  word  which  we  owe  to  the  French  Communists) 
signifies  a  fellowship  in  gain  and  loss,  in  honor  and  dishonor,  in  vic- 
tory and  defeat — a  being,  so  to  speak,  all  in  the  same  boat." — Arch- 
bishop Trench, 


176  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

This  is  not  only  far  liighei'  than  the  interdependences  of 
matter  and  for(;e,  but  each  individual  man  is  greater  than 
the  sum  of  the  material  universe ;  and  as  we  study  this 
human  relationship,  we  see  that  there  is  an  interdepend- 
ence which  makes  each  man  necessary  to  all,  and  all  men 
serviceable  to  each.  "What  is  society?  What  does  the 
word  society  mean,  but  brotherhood,  interdependence, 
unity  of  relationship,  possible  service  and  love?  A  recent 
writer,  who  tells  the  fascinating  story  of  the  dawn  of 
Italian  independence,  gives  us  the  gratifying  intelligence 
that  there  is  coming  into  the  minds  of  the  statesmen  of 
our  day  the  thought  that  each  historic  and  existing  king- 
dom is  necessary  to  all  the  rest ;  that  you  cannot  "  harm 
one  bee  in  the  swarm  without  harming  all "  ;  and  that 
the  new  conception  of  the  unity  of  the  human  race  makes 
it  clear  that  a  crime  against  one  nationality  is  a  crime  also 
against  all  the  rest.^     It  is  out  of  this  true  conception  of 


^  "It  is  evident  that  in  the  brotherhood  of  States,  as  in  the  family 
or  the  community,  the  welfare  of  all  must  be  attained  through  the 
excellence  of  each  of  the  members  according  to  his  qualities.  Every 
weakling,  every  idler,  diminishes  the  common  prosperity.  To  develop 
each  individual  to  the  utmost  limit  compatible  with  the  general  weal 
is  the  goal  towards  which  destiny  urges  mankind.  Hitherto,  this 
process  has  resulted  in  the  formation  of  strong  individuals,  and  in 
concentrating  and  intensifying  the  traits  peculiar  to  each  race;  for 
the  first  commandment  given  to  every  creature  in  the  phj'sical  world 
is,  'Be  strong,  if  thou  wouldst  survive.'  But  individualism,  when 
unrestrained  and  unspiritualized  by  the  recognition  of  a  larger  com- 
munion of  interests,  is  selfish  and  partial ;  it  uses  its  strength  brutishly ; 
its  neighbor  is  not  a  brother,  but  an  enemy,  to  be  robbed  or  crippled 
or  enslaved.  The  past  has  witnessed  the  endeavor  of  race  after  race 
to  make  itself  supreme  by  absorbing  all  the  power  of  its  fellows  and 
by  holding  them  in  subjection.  But  we  stand  on  the  threshold  of  a 
new  age,  in  which  time  and  distance  and  the  barriers  of  nature  have 
been  overcome;  when  the  products  of  one  land  can  be  transported 
swiftly  to  other  lands,  and  when  the  utterances  and  events  in  one 


.      TO   SAVE   ONE   WE   MUST   SAVE   ALL.  177 

the  interdependence  and  inter-relationship  of  all  these 
great  political  communities  that  arises  the  humane  and 
righteous  scheme  of  international  law,  a  potent  and  influ- 
ential form  of  the  Christian  proclamation  of  universal 
brotherhood. 

One  of  the  latest  and  most  eminent  writers  on  the 
absorbing  science  of  political  economy  makes  it  evident 
that,  in  this  unity  and  interdependence  of  the  human 
race,  not  only  is  each  man  and  each  community  necessary 
to  all  the  others ;  but  that  the  welfare  of  each  is  the  wel- 
fare of  the  whole.^  As  our  brethren  prosper  we  prosper, 
and  their  adversity  is  our  misfortune.  Famine  and  prof- 
ligacy and  misgovernment  in  a  nation,  with  their  attend- 
ant poverty  and  crime,  may  create  great  need  where  they 

hemisphere  are  known  immediately  in  the  other.  And  now  we  begin 
to  perceive  that  the  fate  of  each  people  is  interwoven  with  that  of  all 
the  rest.  Interdependence  is  as  necessary  as  independence,  and 
whatever  law  of  trade,  whatever  intriguing  of  diplomacy,  aims  only 
at  selfish  and  local  gain,  though  it  seems  for  a  time  to  benefit  the 
egotist,  will  inevitably  weaken  him,  because  it  weakens  his  neighbors. 
The  swarm  is  harmed  when  a  single  bee  is  harmed.  The  old  politics 
took  no  note  of  this,  nor  have  present  ministries  given  heed  to  it; 
•  but  there  is  the  fact,  and  all  the  inventions  which  make  commercial 
intercourse  easy,  and  disseminate  knowledge,  are  prophetic  of  the 
ultimate  solidarity  of  mankind.  A  crime  against  one  will  at  last  be 
seen  to  be  a  crime  against  all."  —  The  Daion  of  Italian  Inde2)endence, 
by  Williatn  Roscoe  Thayer,  vol.  I,  pages  2,  3. 

1  "Economic  science  teaches  as  an  absolute  truth  that  everybody 
is  profoundly  affected  for  the  better  by  the  prosperity  of  everj'body 
else."  "Always  in  our  science  (Political  Economy)  the  grand  con- 
clusion is  in  sight,  that  the  real  welfare  of  everybody  is  bound  up 
with  the  real  Avelfare  of  everybody  e\se."—The  Unseen  Fonndations 
of  Society,  by  the  Duke  of  Argyll.  Quoting  these  propositions,  and 
approving  them,  the  quarterly  Review  (for  April,  1893,  page  447) 
says:  "The  earth  is  the  Lord's.  The  earth  has  he  given  to  the  sons 
of  men— to  the  race,  not  to  individuals;  and  not  as  absolute  owners, 
but  as  stewards." 


178  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES, 

exist,  but  they  cannot  make  of  such  a  nation  good  cus- 
tomers for  other  nations,  nor  fruitful  ministers  in  the 
world's  service.  Another  Christian  writer  on  the  same 
high  theme  declares  that  the  whole  tendency  and  scope  of 
the  complex  and  vital  interactions  of  society,  under  the 
influence  of  Christian  truth  and  love  and  law,  is  the  per- 
fection of  man  through  the  perfection  of  society ;  that 
man  cannot  be  nobly  and  completely  man  without  the 
ministration  of  his  brethren  and  without  reciprocal  min- 
istration to  his  brethren.'' 

Now  as  I  seek  to  comprehend  these  high  thoughts  and 
rise  to  this  wide  conception  of  humanity, — this  oneness 
of  the  race,  this  vital  inter-relationship  of  all  men  with 
all  men,  this  dependence  of  the  prosperity  of  all  upon 
the  prosperity  of  each,  this  harm  that  comes  to  the  in- 
dividual through  the  harm  that  comes  to  society, — I  ask  : 
"Is  not  this  also  a  parable?"  Does  it  not  point  to 
something  still  higher  and  even  more  divine  than  itself? 
Is  there  not  in  it  the  beginning  of  a  glorious  and  far- 
reaching  revelation,  loftier,  holier,  and  sublimer  than  all 
that  can  be  revealed  through  the  limitless  immensity  of 
the  material  universe,  through  the  mighty  generalization 

1  "The  end  of  Christianity  is  twofold— a  perfect  man  in  a  perfect 
society.  These  purposes  are  never  separaited ;  they  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated. No  man  can  be  redeemed  and  saved  alone;  no  community 
can  be  reformed  and  elevated  except  as  the  individuals  of  which  it  is 
composed  are  regenerated.  .  .  If  there  were  a  man  who  had  no 
neighbor,  he  could  not  obey  God's  law;  he  could  not  be  a  man,  in 
any  proper  sense;  he  could  not  exercise  the  powers  and  functions  of 
the  human  nature;  the  perfection  of  manhood  would  be  utterly 
beyond  his  attainment.  This  vital  and  necessary  relation  of  the 
individual  to  society  lies  at  the  basis  of  the  Christian  conception  of 
life.  Christianity  would  create  a  perfect  society ;  it  would  bring 
forth  perfect  men,  and  to  this  end  it  must  construct  a  perfect  society." 
'—Tools  and  the  Man,  by  Dr.   Washington  Gladden,  pp.  1,  2. 


TO   SAVE   ONE    WE   MUST  SAVE  ALL.  179 

of  human  science,  through  statesmanship,  through  the 
mere  earthly  rekitionsliips  of  any  political  cummonweakh 
or  co-operative  society?  It  seems  to  me  that  these  are 
but  steps  in  the  process  by  \vhich  God  is  uncovering  to 
the  human  mind  that  which  is  highest,  deepest,  and  most 
comprehensive  in  the  divine  and  eternal  relations  of  men 
to  each  other,  and  to  all  the  intelligences  of  the  spiritual 
universe,  through  their  relations  to  God. 

Why  ^vas  it,  think  you,  that  the  choir  of  angels  came 
to  sins:  over  the  mano-er  at  Bethlehem?  What  means 
these  celestial  voices  proclaiming  "  Glory  to  God  in  the 
highest,  and  on  earth  peace  toward  men  of  God's  good 
pleasure  "  ?  When  Christ  was  born,  I  hear  in  it  the  an- 
nouncement of  the  solidarity  of  the  spiritual  universe ; 
not  simply  the  exultation  and  joy  of  holy  beings  over 
the  prospect  of  new  and  ever-increasing  accessions  to 
their  ranks  as  the  centuries  move  on,  but  a  declaration 
that  they  were  now  finding  their  spiritual  brothers  and 
participating  in  a  sublime  revelation  from  God  of  the 
original  and  eternal  unity  of  all  rational  beings  made  in 
the  ima2;e  of  God.  These  were  sdme  of  the  things  that 
the  angels  "  desired  to  look  into  "  ;  that  they  might,  if 
possible,  attain  unto  an  apprehension  of  the  thought  and 
purposes  of  God  to  be  accomplished  as  the  ages  pass  away. 
Or,  what  is  the  meaning  of  that  impressive  declara- 
tion of  our  Lord  :  "  There  is  joy  in  heaven  over  one  sin- 
ner that  repents  "  ?  Is  it  simply  the  announcement  of 
the  delight  of  the  spiritual  mind  over  the  attainment  of 
like  spiritual  excellence  by  other  minds?  Is  it  not 
rather  the  revelation,  the  uncovering  of  the  momentous 
truth  that  all  spiritual  beincs,  in  heaven,  on  earth,  in  all 
worlds,  are  akin  ?     What,  again,  is  the  meaning  of  that 


180  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

exultant  exclamation  of  the  apostle,  that  "  God  created 
all  things ;  in  order  that  now  unto  the  principalities 
and  powers  in  heavenly  realms,  to  the  highest  hierarchy 
of  the  celestial  hosts,  there  should  be  made  known  by 
means  of  the  cliurch  the  manifold  wisdom  of  God,  accord- 
ing to  the  purpose  of  the  ages  which  he  purposed  in  Christ 
Jesus  our  Lord  "  ?  What  is  this  but  the  inspired  declara- 
tion of  the  deep,  eternal,  comprehensive,  and  all-inclusive 
oneness  of  the  spiritual  intelligences  of  all  worlds  as  the 
children  of  God  ? 

What  significance  have  all  these  disclosures  of  truth  for 
us?  Where  do  they  place  our  highest  relationship? 
What  revelation  do  they  make  concerning  our  true  kin- 
ship? What  is  the  appeal  which  they  bring  to  your 
thought,  to  your  imaginntion,  to  your  anticipation,  to 
your  hope,  to  your  longing,  to  your  present  desire  and 
determination  ?  Oh,  the  height,  and  the  depth,  and  the 
length,  and  the  breadth  of  the  love  of  God  in  Jesus 
Christ.  In  very  deed  it  passeth  knowledge,  and  draws 
all  spiritual  beings  unto  itself,  like  the  mighty  attractive 
energy  that  binds  together  the  universe,  like  the  incredi- 
bly swift  and  unfailing  light  that  crosses  every  void  and 
goes  everywhere  throughout  the  limitless  whole.  Tlie 
love  of  God  gathers  within  itself  all  these  countless  hosts 
of  spiritual  beings,  capable  of  apprehending,  of  knowing, 
of  revering,  of  loving,  of  resembling  God.  "Of  him, 
and  through  him,  and  to  him,  are  all  things ;  to  him  be 
the  glory  forever.     Amen." 

Now  it  must  be  that  in  this  interdependence,  this 
mutual  relationship  of  all  spiritual  beings,  the  welfare  of 
each  is  vitally  connected  with  the  welfare  of  all.  No 
man  can  be  hinise-lf,  in  the  fullnegs  and  completeness  and 


TO  SAVE   ONE   WE   MUST   SAVE   ALL,.  181 

possibility  of  bis  being,  unless  all  men  are  not  only  heirs 
of  like  grace  and  like  possibility,  but  also  through  the 
ministration  of  each  to  all,  all  shall  share  in  the  endeavor 
toward  the  realization  of  their  perfection.  What  is  the 
profoundest  fact  concerning  this  humanity  of  ours  ?  Ask 
our  honored  secretary  wliat  was  the  thought  that  pene- 
trated his  being  and  burned  itself  into  his  inmost  soul, 
as  he  traveled  araono;  the  different  races  of  men  ?  I  fol- 
lowed  him  in  thought,  as  you  followed  him,  through 
Japan,  through  China,  through  India,  into  Egypt  and 
into  Palestine,  by  all  the  great  rivers  of  the  earth,  across 
all  oceans,  through  all  seas,  among  these  various  races, 
apparently  so  unlike  in  feature,  in  speech,  in  dress,  in 
manners.  But,  think  you,  that  it  was  this  variety,  this 
diversity,  this  separation,  this  unlikeness,  that  forced 
itself  upon  his  thought,  and  commanded  more  and  more 
his  sympathy,  and  interest,  and  attention?  Nay,  1  am 
sure  that  again  and  again  he  said :  "  God  indeed  made 
of  one  all  nations  of  men  that  dwell  on  the  face  of  the 
earth."  What  he  saw,  what  he  felt,  what  he  apjn'eciated, 
what  he  realized  as  never  before,  Avas  this  unity  of 
humanity — the  oneness  of  the  race  in  Adam,  in  Christ, 
and  in  the  heritage  and  possibilities  of  a  divine  life. 

Man  as  a  race  is  one  in  his  origin.  Whatever  he  may 
be  to-day,  whatever  you  may  find  in  him  of  alienation  or 
of  degradation,  be  sure  that  there  is  at  the  bottom,  there 
is  at  the  centre,  in  the  inmost  core  of  his  life,  this  attesta- 
tion of  his  origin  from  God.  They  tell  us  that  the  other 
day,  in  one  of  the  great  monasteries  of  the  East,  there 
was  found  a  most  precious  manuscript  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment. Upon  examination  it  was  found  to  be  what  in 
learned  phrase  they  call  a  palimpsest.  And  what  is  a 
IG 


182  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

palimpsest  ?  It  is  a  parchment  that  has  been  used  a 
second  time.  In  this  case  there  was  originally  the  writ- 
ing of  the  word  of  God,  the  teachings  of  Jesus  Christ. 
But  one  day  an  idle  monk  had  a  story  to  tell,  some 
fiction,  some  trivial  chronicle,  some  worthless  legend ; 
taking  the  manuscript  of  the  divine  word,  he  erased  the 
writing,  and  on  the  partially  cleansed  parchment  he  wrote 
his  M^orthless  story,  his  trivial  tale.  By-and-by  there 
came  one  who  discerned  beneath  this  worthless  writing 
the  pristine  record  of  divine  truth  ;  he  cleansed  away  that 
which  was  secondary,  that  which  was  temporary  and 
valueless ;  and  he  restored  that  which  was  original, 
glorious,  and  eternal.  Man  is  such  a  manuscript,  a 
palimpsest.  I  find  in  man's  nature,  at  the  core  of 
his  being,  the  autograph  of  God,  a  divine  writing 
that  can  never  be  completely  effaced.  But  oh,  it  may  be 
written  over,  as  indeed  it  has  been,  by  the  foul  scribbling 
of  sin,  and  thus  made  to  read  something  very  different 
from  the  original  self.  There  will  come  One,  and  One 
does  come,  who,  beneath  that  which  is  unworthy,  that 
which  is  false,  that  which  is  perversion  from  God,  can 
discern  that  which  is  original  and  divine,  and  which, 
thanks  to  the  subtle  chemistry  of  God's  love,  can  be 
restored. 

Yes ;  man  has  at  the  centre  of  his  being  the  authentic 
and  indelible  "  image  and  superscription  "  of  God.  Let 
him  therefore  "  render  unto  God  the  things  that  are 
God's."  God  is  Spirit,  and  is  seeking  spiritual  worship- 
ers. Man  is  spirit  also,  and  therefore  he  can  worship 
God.  He  was  made  in  the  divine  likeness.  By  his  es- 
sential nature  he  is,  as  Paul  approves  the  Greek  poets  for 
saying,  "  the  offspring  of  God,"  being  of  the  same  race 


TO   SAVE   ONE    WE   MUST   SAVE   ALL. 


183 


or  stock,  as  parent  and  offspring  are  of  necessity  of  the 
same  stock.  Therefore,  the  mighty  apostolic  argument 
goes  on,  God  '•  is  not  far  from  each  one  of  us,  for  in  him 
we  live  and  move  and  exist." 

Speak  to  him,  thou,  for  he  hears,  and  Spirit  with  spirit  can  meet ; 
Closer  is  he  tlian  breathing,  and  nearer  than  hands  and  feet. 

— Tennyson. 

Man  is  infinitely  nearer  to  God  than  he  is  to  the 
highest  earthly  brute,  whatever  the  scientist  may  say. 
The  brute  is  "  far  off  from  each  one  of  us,"  and  we  do 
not  "  live  and  move  and  exist  "  in  the  brute.  We  can 
commune  with  God,  but  we  cannot  commune  with  the 
brute,  for  there  is  no  community  of  nature  between  us. 
We  are  separated  from  the  brute  by"  the  whole  diameter 
of  being."  There  is  a  bridgeless  gulf  between  us  and 
the  highest  animal,  with  no  conception  of  any  possible 
intercourse  across  it.  And  why  should  there  be  ?  The 
animal  has  nothing  to  tell  us,  and  no  capacity  for  learn- 
ing what  we  might  tell  him.  Between  us  and  God  there 
is  no  gulf  except  the  chasm  made  by  sin,  and  this  is  com- 
pletely bridged  in  Jesns  Christ.  Augustine  speaks  for 
all  humanity  when  he  cries  out :  "  Thou  hast  made  us,  O 
God,  for  thyself,  and  our  heart  is  restless  until  it  rests  in 
thee."  And  so  does  the  psalmist  speak  for  tlie  race  when 
he  exclaims :  "  As  the  hart  panteth  after  the  wator- 
brooks,  so  panteth  my  soul  after  thee,  O  God."  ^ 

iProf.  Henry  Drummond  is  quoted  as  saj'ing  (in  a  lecture  in  Min- 
neapolis, June  5,  1893,  and  reported  in  the  daily  papers)  that  "it  is 
not  hard  for  one  to  see  a  greater  likeness  between  the  lowest  man 
and  the  highest  ape  than  between  the  highest  and  lowest  man."  That 
is  a  gross  exaggeration  of  mere  superficial  qualities,  and  a  complete 
overlooking  of  the  essential  and  permanent.     The  lowest  man  has  in 


184  CEXTENAIIY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

Moreover,  tliis  race  of  ours  has  not  only  the  unity  of 
its  divine  origin,  but  also  the  unity  that  comes  through 
its  one  disease  of  sin.  All  men  are  sick  of  the  same 
sickness  ;  all  men  are  depraved  with  the  same  alienation 
from  God.  But  it  is  a  happiness  to  say  they  have  also 
this  in  common,  that  they  are  all  alike  capable  of  the  re- 
newal and  restoration  of  that  which  was  the  original 
autograph  of  divine  purity  and  truth  and  blessedness. 
In  a  word,  man  is  capable  of  salvation,  capable  of  being 
restored  into  the  likeness  of  God  and  conformed  a^ain  to 
the  divine  image. 

Now,  what  has  this  to  do  with  us  ?  What  is  the  great 
lesson  enforced  upon  us  as  to  our  relationshij)  to  our  fel- 
low-men ?  How  shall  this  restoration  take  place  ?  How 
shall  men  be  brought  again  into  this  divine  communion 
and  intercourse,  and  how  shall  these  limitless  possibilities 
of  man  be  realized,  and  man  stand  again  in  more  than 
his  original  glory,  perfect  before  God  through  the  com- 
munication of  a  divine  life? 

God  has  so  ordered  it  that  our  fellows  can  rise  only  by 
our  leave  and  our  co-operation.  God  has  so  made  us  our 
brothers'  keepers  that  they  can  realize  in  themselves  that 
which  he  intends  concerning  them  only  by  the  faithful- 
ness and  completeness  of  our  ministry  to  them;  by  the 
communication  of  all  that  is  implied  in  this  inler-depen- 
dence  and  vital  relationsliip  of  man  to  man.  The  salva- 
tion of  all  is  necessary  to  the  salvation  of  one. 

him  all  the  capacities  and  jjossibilities  of  the  highest  man.  He  can 
know  the  universe  and  himself,  lie  can  know  God.  He  can  become 
all  that  any  man  can  become.  Christian  missions  is  demonstrating 
this  in  India,  in  Africa,  in  Patagonia,  and  Terra  del  Fuego.  The 
ape  cannot  become  this.  There  is  for  it  no  such  capacity  or  possibil' 
ity.     Otherwise  it  would  cease  to  be  an  ape  and  be  a  man. 


TO   SAVE    ONE    WE    MUST    SAVE    ALL.  185 

One  of  our  political  orators  declared  in  one  of  the 
great  national  conventions,  in  the  fervor  and  earnestness 
of  his  appeal,  concerning  the  intimate  political  relations 
of  our  own  people,  that  ^'  the  vote  of  no  man  is  safe  un- 
less the  votes  of  all  men  are  safe."  ^  And  he  spoke  a 
more  magnificent  truth  than,  perchance,  he  himself  appre- 
ciated. But  can  it  be  that  my  salvation  is  dependent  on 
the  salvation  of  my  brother  ?  Can  it  be  that  no  man  is 
saved  until  all  men  are  saved  ?  Can  it  be  that  no  man  is 
completely  redeemed  and  restored  to  the  likeness  of  God 
unless  all  men  are  thus  reached,  and  rescued,  and  re- 
stored, and  perfected  in  the  divine  image  ?  I  have  been 
told  that  this  proposition  of  mine  is  Universalism.  Uni- 
versalism  !  Why,  the  paralyzing  and  sterile  Universal- 
ism that  I  have  been  accustomed  to  hear  is,  "  That  to 
save  all  you  need  save  none " ;  that  all  men  are  saved 
whether  they  will  or  not.  What  a  movement  there  would 
be  through  the  few  and  scattered  and  very  dry  bones  of 
our  American  Universalism,  were  some  one  to  stand  be- 
fore them,  and  with  the  voice  of  a  prophet  and  the  heart 
of  an  apostle  were  to  tell  tliem  :  "  You  cannot  be  saved 
unless  through  your  instrumentality  the  race  is  saved  ! " 

My  brother,  what  do  you  mean  by  salvation  ?  Is  it 
simply  taking  refuge  in  the  ark  while  the  tempest  and 
the  storm  sweep  over  the  great  majority  of  the  race  ?  Is 
it  simply  the  selfish  bestowing  of  yourself  in  some  strong- 
hold of  security,  while  all  the  neglected  world  perishes 
and  goes  down  to  ruin?  What  is  your  conception  of 
salvation  ?  Is  it  some  easy  process  that  takes  place,  as 
it  were,  in  one's  sleep,  in  some  unconscious  dream  that 

>  Hon.  J.  Sloat  Fassett,  at  the  National  Republican  Convention, 
Minneapolis,  June,  1892. 


186  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

transfers  you  from  one  side  of  the  safety  line  to  the  other, 
side  of  the  line  Avithout  touching  any  one,  and  without 
any  one  else  knowing  it?  Salvation  !  Do  we  know  what 
is  its  meaning?  Have  we  risen  to  the  height  of  its 
thought  ?  Do  we  comprehend  the  immense  scope  and 
compass  of  salvation  ?  In  its  inception  it  is  the  faith 
in  Almighty  God  that  anchors  the  soul  to  him.  In  its 
process,  in  its  unfolding,  in  its  development,  it  is  unques- 
tionably the  companionship  of  God  through  the  Holy 
Spirit ;  the  divine  intercourse  and  fellowship  that  culmi- 
nates in  full  likeness  to  Jesus  Christ.  When  shall  we 
reach  it  ?  What  is  the  diameter  of  this  mighty  orbit  ? 
What  is  the  infinite  sweep  of  this  mighty  circle  of  signifi- 
cance that  we  strive  to  gather  up  in  the  wonderful  word 
salvation  f  How  shall  we  reach  it  ?  By  selfishness,  by 
narrowness,  by  meanness,  by  the  contraction  of  our 
thought,  and  aspiration,  and  symjiathy,  and  interest,  and 
desire  to  the  infinitesimal  atom  that  constitutes  our  own 
personality  ?  ^  How  can  a  man  be  saved  unless  there 
courses  through   his  being  the  celestial  tide  of  almighty 

I  What  a  cliorus  of  diverse  and  yet  concordant  testimony  gathers 
around  this  point.  Aristotle,  the  Grecian  philosopher,  heathen  though 
we  sometimes  call  him,  was  a  man  of  marvelous  insight  into  the 
nature  and  the  structure  of  society.  He  tells  us  that  "  a  prince  ex- 
ists for  his  people,"  and  we  have  learned  that  the  application  of  this 
fundamental  truth  extends  far  beyond  the  sphere  of  political  sover- 
eignty. "■Nobility  obliges"  is  the  same  thought  enlarged  as  a 
maxim  of  polite  society,  though  often  perverted  and  reversed;  but 
the  obligation  of  loving  service  for  all  is  the  very  essence  of  Christian 
nobility.  Christ  gives  the  loftiest  form  and  miglitiest  sanction  to 
this  sentiment  when  he  says;  "Inasmuch  as  3'e  have  rendered 
needed  and  thoughtful  service,  or  have  not  rendered  it,  unto  one  of 
the  least  of  these,  my  brethren,  ye  did  it,  or  did  it  not,  unto  me." 
Paul  shows  the  same  spirit :  "  Both  to  Greeks  and  to  barbarians  1  am 
debtor."     "I  could  wish  to  bo  myself  accursed  from  Christ  for  my 


TO   SAVE   ONE    WE    MUST   SAVE    ALL.  187 

love,  elevating  him  and  holding  him  in  sympathy,  inter- 
est, and  aspiration  to  the  Almiglity  and  Eternal  One,  and 
fillino;  him  with  divine  blessedness  ?  Yes  ;  "  This  is  life 
eternal,  that  they  might  know  thee,  the  only  true  God, 
and  Jesus  Christ  wliom  thou  hast  sent." 

Oh,  I  see  the  great  apostle  in  the  crisis  of  his  perilous 
voyage  from  Csesarea  to  Rome.  In  the  hour  of  disaster 
and  shipwreck  he  is  in  form  and  fact  a  prisoner,  and  yet 
he  is  the  sovereign  of  the  ship  and  the  master  of  the 
occasion.  I  hear  him  say  that  the  God  whose  he  was  and 
whom  he  served  stood  by  him  in  the  darkness  and  in  the 
storm,  and  .said  :  "  Fear  not,  Paul ;  thou  must  be  brought 
before  Csesar ;  and  lo,  God  has  given  thee  all  those  that 
sail  with  thee."  My  brother,  you  are  the  centre  of  an 
influence  that  goes  around  the  globe,  that  fills  the  spiritual 
universe,  that  has  its  source  and  seat  in  the  heai't  of  God  ; 
and  in  some  way,  and  to  some  degree,  God  has  given  to 
you  all  that  sail  with  you,  and  your  fidelity  or  neglect 
shall  affect  their  destiny. 

To  save  one,  we  must  save  all.  I  know  of  no  salvation 
that  can  come  into  the  human  life  except  by  personal 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ.  I  know  of  no  other  probation  for 
the  human  spirit  than  that  which  takes  place  in  this 
lifetiriie  of  its  earthly  experience.  But  oh,  the  extent  of 
the  influence  that   goes  from  this  lifetime  of  existence 

brethren,  my  kinsmen  according  to  the  flesli."  "  "Who  is  weak  and 
I  am  not  weak  ?    Who  is  offended  and  I  burn  not  ?  " 

There  be  sad  women,  sick  and  poor. 
And  those  who  walk  in  garments  soiled; 

Their  shame,  their  sorrow,  I  endure- 
By  their  defeat  my  hope  is  foiled. 

The  blot  they  bear  is  on  my  name  ; 

Who  sins,  and  I  am  not  to  blame? — Lucy  Larcom. 


1S8  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

throughout  the  human  race  and  throughout  the  ranks  of 
all  spiritual  intelligences.  It  is  like  the  point  of  light, 
minute  indeed,  but  the  influence  of  it  pervades  the  entire 
universe.     "  Ye  are  the  light  of  the  world." 

To  save  one  we  must  save  all.  Do  I  tell  you  that  you 
cannot  have  a  genuine  life  and  faith  in  Jesus  Christ 
unless  all  men  exercise  a  like  faith  in  him  ?  No ;  but  I 
do  tell  you  that  the  only  proof  that  you  have  a  living 
faith  in  Jesus  Christ  that  unites  you  to  the  heart  of  God, 
is  that  your  sympathy  and  influence  and  longing  go  out 
to  every  spiritual  being  whom  God  has  made.  You 
cannot  go  to  heaven  alone;  you  cannot  be  a  Christian  and 
wrap  yourself  around  with  a  selfish  and  isolated  individ- 
uality ;  you  cannot  expect  to  be  close  to  the  heart  of  God 
unless  you  love  as  God  loves.  Is  there  any  limit  to  it? 
Is  there  any  partiality  in  it?  "God  so  loved  the  world 
that  he  gave  his  only  begotten  Son." 

You  will  perchance  tell  me  that  the  Scriptures  read : 
"  He  that  believeth  and  is  baptized  shall  be  saved."  Listen 
now  once  more  to  this  marvelous  commission  of  our  Lord 
and  Master  :  "  All  power,  all  authority,  all  prerogative  is 
given  unto  me  in  heaven  and  upon  earth.  Go  ye,  there- 
fore, into  all  the  world  and  preach  the  gospel  to  every 
creature,  to  the  whole  creation.  He  that  believeth  and  is 
baptized  shall  be  saved  ;  he  that  believeth  not  shall  be 
condemned  " — condemned.  He  that  believeth  not  shall  be 
condemned  Avith  him  that  goeth  not.  They  shall  be  con- 
demned together.  Their  condemnation  shall  be  equal.  He 
that  goeth  and  he  that  believeth  shall  rejoice  together. 
And  is  there  no  limit  to  our  commission  ?  Is  there  no 
creature  excepted  from  the  sovereign  command  that  is 
given  us?     How  can  we  hope  for  the  perfection  that  is 


TO  SAVE   ONE    WE   MUST   SAVE   ALL.  189 

possible  to  these  capacities  of  ours,  that  allies  lis  to  the 
angels,  that  allies  us  to  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  that 
allies  us  to  God.  Jesus  Christ  is  the  measure,  the  model, 
the  archetype  of  our  aspiration  and  hope.  And  how  can 
we  expect  to  rise  to  the  height  of  this  perfection,  to  "  the 
measure  of  the  stature  of  the  fullness  of  Christ,"  unless 
our  sympathy  and  prayer  and  purpose  and  actual  effort 
circle  the  globe  as  his  love  has  circled  it,  unless  they  em- 
brace every  creature  as  his  grace  embraces  all. 

I  ask  no  heaven  till  earth  be  thine ; 
No  glory-crown  while  work  of  mine 
Remaineth  here.     When  earth  sliall  shine 

Among  the  stars, 
Her  sins  wiped  out,  her  captives  free. 
Her  voice  a  music  unto  thee  ; 
For  crown,  new  work  give  thou  to  me  ; 

Lord,  here  am  I. 


XV. 

THE  INFLUENCE  OF  A   CENTURY  OF   MIS- 
SIONS ON  CHRISTIAN  THEOLOGY. 

ALVAH  HOVEY,  D.  D.,  LL.  D., 

President  Newlon  Theological  Seminary,  Newton,  Mass. 

When  asked  a  few  weeks  ago  to  speak  at  this  anniver- 
sary on  "  The  Influence  of  a  Century  of  Missions  on 
Christian  Theology,"  I  readily  consented  to  do  so.  But 
it  is  no  more  than  honest  to  confess  that  ray  desire  to 
verify  and  explain  the  beneficent  influence  of  missions  on 
the  science  to  which  the  best  years  of  my  life  have  been 
given,  diverted  my  attention  in  some  degree  from  the  vast 
amount  of  knowledge  presupposed  in  a  thorough  treat- 
ment of  the  subject,  an  amount  of  knowledge  which  I 
did  not  possess  and  could  not  acquire.  For  while  it  was 
possible  to  ascertain  with  some  degree  of  exactness  the 
notes  of  difference  between  the  theology  which  was  taught 
by  good  men  a  hundred  years  ago,  and  the  theology  which 
is  taught  by  such  men  to-day,  it  is  an  almost  infinitely 
difficult  task  to  discover  the  many  subtle  and  delicate  in- 
fluences which  have  contributed  to  the  change. 

Christian  theology  teaches  that  God  is  partially  revealed 
in  nature,  and  it  has  therefore  been  sensitive  to  all  the 
voices  which  have  come  to  it  from  the  closest  students  of 
nature.  During  the  past  century  such  voices  have  been 
exceedingly  numerous  and  penetrating.  Christian  theol- 
ogy assumes  that  religious  principles  are  to  be  CKamined 
and  co-ordinated  by  human  reason,  and  it  has  therefore 
190 


INFLUENCE   OF   A    CENTURY   OF   MISSIONS.         191 

been  sensitive  to  all  the  cautions  and  encouragements 
Avliich  liav^e  come  to  it  from  teachers  of  psychology  or 
metaphysics.  These  also  have  been  numerous,  but  their 
teaching  has  not  been  always  to  the  same  effect.  Chris- 
tian theology  is  founded  on  historic  facts  made  known  to 
us  by  written  documents,  and  it  has  therefore  been  sensi- 
tive to  the  testimony  of  critics  who  profess  to  solve  the 
riddles  of  the  past,  and  to  correct  the  errors  of  our  inter- 
pretation. Much  of  their  work  has  been  useful,  but  their 
task  is  not  yet  finished. 

Beyond  question,  this  century  of  missions  has  been  one 
of  movement,  of  invention,  of  discovery,  of  research,  of 
criticism,  of  speculation,  and  of  progress.  Never  Avere  so 
many  theories  broached,  so  many  customs  changed,  so 
many  hopes  kindled,  so  many  failures  lamented,  so  many 
advances  made.  It  has  been  a  great  century,  full  of  life, 
effort,  competition,  co-operation.  And  Christian  theology 
has  been  in  the  heart  of  it  all,  warning  or  consoling  or 
inspiring,  with  a  voice  as  little  changed  by  the  turmoil  as 
any  that  could  be  heard.  Indeed,  every  other  science  has 
had  an  eye  to  theology,  and  every  human  enterprise  has 
consulted  or  opposed  it.  And  so  it  bears  the  stamp  of 
the  century  upon  it,  the  clear  impression  of  an  age  dis- 
tinguished above  many  others  for  its  missionary  spirit. 

The  foreign  mission  enterprise,  started  in  England  a 
hundred  years  ago  by  William  Carey,  was  a  great  religious 
movement,  and  the  influences  of  such  a  movement  are 
always  far-reaching  and  manifold.  For  nothing  under 
the  sun  is  more  certain  than  this,  that  belief  and  con- 
duct, creed  and  life,  act  and  react  with  silent  cogency 
upon  each  other.  If  it  were  not  in  our  power  to  point 
out   doctrinal   changes   which   could   be   traced   to    the 


192  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

iuflafiice  of  missions  more  naturally  than  to  any  other 
infiuence,  it  would  nevertheless  be  safe  to  affirm  the 
existence  of  such  changes.  For  the  greatness  of  the 
enterprise,  appealing  to  the  noblest  impulses  of  the  heart, 
must  have  enlarged  the  range  of  Christian  thought  and 
intelligence  in  the  case  of  all  who  put  their  hands  to  this 
work.  But  it  is  possible,  we  think,  to  specify  certain 
differences  of  tone  and  emphasis  and  proportion  in  the 
treatment  of  particular  doctrines,  wiiicli  distinguish  the 
Christian  theology  of  to-day  from  that  prevailing  at  the 
end  of  the  last  centur3\ 

Notice,  first,  that  in  S|)eaking  of  God  there  has  been  a 
perceptible  transfer  of  emphasis  from  his  natural  attributes 
to  his  moral,  and  especially  from  Iiis  absolute  control  to 
his  gracious  love.  In  other  words,  God's  sovereignty 
filled  a  larger  place  in  the  teaching  of  Calvinistic  divines 
then  than  it  does  now,  while  his  loving-kindness  filled  a 
somewhat  smaller  place.  There  is  no  antagonism  betvveen 
these  doctrines  when  properly  stated ;  both  of  them  have 
been  held  and  taught  by  sound  theologians  from  that  day 
to  this,  yet  not  at  all  times  with  equal  clearness  and 
force.  For  the  sovereignty  of  love  is  far  more  inscru- 
table than  the  sovereignty  of  power,  moral  supremacy  is 
far  more  incomprehensible  than  physical  or  dynamic. 

At  this  point  we  may  perceive  the  influence  of  a  century 
of  missions  on  Christian  tiieology — a  silent,  unobserved, 
yet  real  influence,  bringing  the  minds  of  thoughtful  men 
closer  to  the  true  nature  of  God's  supreme  authority  over 
moral  beings.  The  pioneers  of  this  great  enterprise  must 
have  perceived  that  God's  eternal  purpose  to  recover  the 
lost  through  his  Son  was  to  be  carried  into  efiect  by 
means  adapted  to  their  moral    nature,  not   by  the   sole 


INFLUENCE   OF   A    CENTURY   OF   MISSIONS.         193 

energy  of  his  omnipotence,  re-creating  their  spirits  without 
any  appeal  to  their  reason  or  conscience  or  power  of 
choice,  but  by  a  method  of  working  which  emphws  these 
high  faculties  of  humanity  and  verifies  the  language  of 
Paul,  that  in  some  true  and  important  sense  "  the  word 
of  the  cross  is  the  power  of  God  unto  tliem  that  are  saved." 
But  the  spiritual  discernment  of  AVilliam  Carey  was  in 
advance  of  his  age.  Multitudes  then  supposed  that  the 
time  had  not  come  for  God  to  convert  the  heathen,  and 
that  it  was  not  for  them  to  anticipate  the  appointed  hour, 
or  to  begin  so  vast  a  work  in  the  dark.  The  pillar  of 
fire  must  appear  and  go  before  them  in  visible  splendor 
or  thev  could  not  undertake  to  preach  the  gospel  to 
every  creature.  They  failed  to  recognize  in  the  Great 
Commission,  or  in  the  life  of  Paul,  that  pillar  of  fire; 
and  they  failed  to  do  this  partly  because  they  mistook  the 
nature  of  Christ's  supremacy  and  the  working  by  which 
he  will  subdue  all  things  to  himself.  For  this  working 
is  essentially  moral ;  it  is  influence,  not  force ;  and  it 
reaches  the  souls  of  men  through  many  channels  as  the 
word  of  truth,  the  love  and  service  of  the  members  of 
Christ's  body  and  the  more  secret  and  transforming  grace 
of  the  Holy  Spirit.  This  is  now  commonly  believed. 
Theologians  emphasize  the  fact  that  Christ  conquers  by 
the  power  of  truth  and  grace.  They  speak  of  holiness 
and  love  as  being  literally  more  potential  than  the  forces 
of  gravitation  which  hold  the  planets  in  their  track.  And 
while  they  gratefully  acknowledge  the  presence  of  God  in 
all  spiritual  progress,  they  teach  that  he  unites  his  ov/n 
working  with  that  of  his  children,  and  reveals  to  them  as 
clearly  as  possible  the  glory  of  the  "  one  far-off  divine 
event"  to  which  all  holy  aspirations  and  efforts  tend. 
17 


194  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

And  this  really  higher  view  of  the  Divine  sovereignty  is 
due  to  the  slowly  working  influence  of  a  century  of  mis- 
sions in  a  mucli  larger  measure  than  it  is  to  theological 
research  or  discussion.  Theology  is  therefore  a  debtor  to 
missions  for  a  transfer  of  emphasis  from  the  omnipotence 
of  Gcd  to  his  holy  love,  and  this  debt  she  will  labor  with 
all  diligence  and  cheerfulness  to  pay. 

Notice,  secondly,  that  in  speaking  of  Christian  life  there 
has  been  a  perceptible  transfer  of  emphasis  from  faith  to 
love,  from  trust  to  service.  Yet  the  theology  of  our  day 
is  not  at  this  point  antagonistic  to  the  theology  cur- 
rent a  century  ago.  For  faith  and  love  have  never  been 
represented  as  oj)posed  to  each  other.  They  are  of  the 
same  lineage,  and  mutually  helpful.  Nor  has  their  affinity 
ever  been  called  in  question  by  intelligent  divines.  It 
■would  be  impossible  to  find,  even  in  the  writings  of  eTohn 
Gill,  any  intimation  that  faith  is  greater  than  love,  or  that 
it  can  be  genuine  apart  from  works.  On  the  other  hand, 
our  own  theology,  which  emphasizes  love,  does  not  overlook 
the  radical  nature  of  faith  or  deny  that  it  is  indispensable 
to  divine  life  in  the  soul.  It  is  therefore  only  a  transfer 
of  stress  or  empliasis  that  we  affirm.  But  the  change  is 
not  on  that  account  unimportant.  If  in  the  right  direction, 
and  not  too  great,  it  will  tend  to  the  perfection  of  Christian 
life,  and  the  richest  fruit  of  divine  grace  in  the  soul  Avill 
issue  in  the  highest  service  to  mankind.  The  true  reign 
of  God  is  within,  and  is  described  as  "  righteousness  and 
jjeace  and  joy  in  the  Holy  Spirit " ;  but  joy  would  be 
empty  Avithout  love ;  and  the  same  apostle  describes  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  as  love,  joy,  peace,  long-sufferings 
kindness,  goodness,  faithfulness,  meekness,  self-control." 
And  just  these  are  the    virtues   which   the   missionaiy 


INFLUENCE  OF  A  CENTURA  OF  MI-iSION'S.    195 

enterprise  cherishes.  It  calls  upon  Christians  to  obey  the 
command  of  their  Lord.  It  sets  the  world  in  its  sin  and 
sorrow,  its  darkness  and  woe,  before  them,  and  without 
intermission,  from  year  to  year  and  lustrum  to  lustrum, 
with  a  thousand  voices  says  to  them,  "  These  are  your 
neighbors,  your  brothers,  and  you  are  to  serve  them  with 
a  quenchless  love."  Tlie  whole  atmosphere  has  vibrated 
at  times  Avith  appeals  for  help  in  giving  the  gospel  to  the 
nations.  The  press  has  been  associated  witli  the  living 
voice  in  declaring  the  magnitude  and  urgency  of  the  work. 
Periodicals,  religious  and  secular,  volumes,  reports,  pam- 
phlets, and  leaflets,  have  been  used  as  channels  for  mis- 
sionary light  and  eloquence.  Statistics,  vital,  educational, 
and  moral,  have  been  brought  to  bear  on  the  hearts  of 
men  and  women  throughout  Christendom.  Instances  of 
personal  devotion  and  of  combined  effort  have  been 
faithfully  reported  for  the  encouragement  of  fainting 
spirits.  And  the  principal  stress  has  been  laid  upon  love 
and  service.  The  practical  side  of  Christian  life  has  been 
pushed  to  the  front  and  the  theology  of  our  day  has  felt 
its  influence. 

Doubtless  the  faith  of  God's  people  has  also  been 
strengthened  by  the  work  of  missions,  especially  the  faith 
which  relies  on  the  promise  of  Christ  for  success  in  evan- 
gelizing the  Avorld.  For  in  the  realm  of  spiritual  action 
we  cannot  give  more  than  we  have  received.  We  lift  up 
our  hands  to  God  that  he  may  fill  them  with  the  blessing 
which  is  then  offered  by  us  to  men.  Apart  from  Christ 
we  can  do  nothing.  Our  missions  prosper  because  the 
promise  of  Jesus  is  fulfilled  :  "Lo,  I  am  with  you  alway, 
unto  the  end  of  the  world." 

But  while  the  work  of  missions  calls  for  genuine  faith, 


196  CENTENARY    ilTSSIOXARY    ADDRESSES. 

and  gives  it  abundant  exercise,  there  is  reason  to  believe 
that  its  influence  in  cultivating  love  and  the  habit  of"  con- 
secrated service,  is  still  more  pervasive  and  controlling ; 
so  that  the  point  on  which  special  stress  is  laid  in  our 
theological  creed  has  come  1o  be  love,  rather  tlian  trust ; 
and  action,  rather  than  devotion.  "  And  now  abide 
faith,  hope,  love,  these  three ;  and  the  greatest  of  these 
is  love." 

Notice,  thirdly,  that  in  maintaining  the  truth  of  the 
Christian  religion  there  has  been  a  perceptible  transfer 
of  emphasis  from  its  miraculous  to  its  moral  phenomena. 
The  evidential  literature  of  the  last  twenty  years  of  the 
century,  Mhcn  compared  with  that  of  the  first  twenty 
years,  furnishes  ample  proof  of  tliis  statement.  For  of 
late  it  has  been  frequently  acknov.ledgcd  by  good  men, 
that  a  belief  in  miracles  can  only  be  justified  by  eviden<5e 
coming  from  other  sources  that  Jesus  Christ  was  a  super- 
natural being,  while  a  hundred  years  ago  it  was  com- 
monly affirmed  that  faith  in  Christ  as  a  supernatural  be- 
ing is  fully  justified  by  the  evidence  which  proves  that  he 
wrought  many  miracles.  The  change  is  worthy  of  close 
consideration.  The  efficient  causes  of  it  must  be  sought 
in  physical  science  and  speculative  philosophy.  For  the 
unparalleled  growth  of  physical  science  during  the  pres- 
ent century  has  sliown  with  ever  clearer  light  the  regu- 
larity of  all  the  processes  of  nature,  and  lias  cultivated  a 
distrust  of  all  evidence  for  miracles.  Moreover,  the  dis- 
trust thus  fostered  agrees  with  a  strong  tendency  of 
philosophical  thought  to  classify  events  and  reduce  them 
to  a  fixed  order.  This  tendency  is  so  powerful  in  many 
minds  as  to  make  them  willing  to  abandon  their  instinct- 
ive belief  in  human  freedom  for  the  sake  of  comprehend- 


I^•FI.UEKCE   OF   A   CENXaEY   OF   MI33IOSS. 


197 


i„.  all  parts  of  the  universe  under  one  k.nd  of  foi-ce  and 
la^  It  is  not,  therefore,  surprising  that  the  jo.nt  mflu- 
enee  of  natural  science  and  philosophy  upon  certain  per- 
sons has  rendered  the  record  of  miracles  a  stumbl.ng- 
block  in  the  way  of  their  accepting  the  entire  gospel 
narrative,  though  they  recognize  the  sp.ntnal  beauty  of 
Christ's  life  and  teaching,  and  on  this  account,  perhaps, 

believe  in  miracles.  ,    .    .  t  • 

Meanwhile,  the  moral  power  of  the  Christian  religion 
has  become  more  and  more  evident  and  many  able  apo  - 
ogists  have  appealed  to  it  as  the  ehief  and  sufficient,  if 
not  the  only,  proof  of  its  heavenly  oiigm         By  the. 
fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  is  as  fair  a  test  of  the  quality 
of  religions  as  of  trees,  and  it  is  one  which  distinguishes 
the  Christian  religion  from  every  other,  and  assigns  it  a 
divine  pre-eminence.      What   this  religion  does  i-eyeals 
what  it  is,  and  assures  the  hearts  of  its  friends  that^  the 
gates  of  hades  will  not   prevail   against  it.       But  the 
moral  power  of  their  religion  is  revealed    o  Christians 
in  two  ways:  by  what  it  does  for  themselves,  and  by 
what  it  does  for  others  ;  by  personal  experience,  and  by 
careful  observation.     In  other  words,  its  truth  is  verified 
by  their  own  consciousness,  and  by  the  effect  which  it  is 
seen  to  have  on  the  lives  of  men.     And  the  ever-mcreas- 
in-  force  of  this  kind  of  evidence  for  the  Christian  re- 
ligion has  rendered  many  persons  indifferent  to  the  proof 
f^om  miracles,  while  it  has  led  others  to  place  moral 
events  of  the  present  day  in  the  foreground,  and  miracu- 
lous events  of  the  first  age  in  the  background,  when  the 
evidences  of  Christianity  are  grouped  together.  ^ 

Now  while  it  is  certain  that  the  efficient  cause  oi  this 
chan-e  has  been  the  joint  influence  of  physical  science 


198  CENTEXARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

and  speculaiive  philosophy,  it  also  appears  that  the  suc- 
cess of  missions  during  the  century  has  facilitated  it  by 
making  the  moral  evidence  for  our  holy  religion  more 
cogent  and  satisfying  to  reason.  Looking  at  the  change 
from  this  point  of  view  we  rejoice,  though  not  without 
trembling.  For  it  should  never  be  forgotten  that  the 
truth  of  our  religion  depends  on  the  pupernatural  birth, 
personality,  and  resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  that,  if 
tiiese  were  facts,  other  miracles  wrought  at  his  word  can- 
not be  judged  improbable.  Nor  should  it  be  overlooked 
that  the  more  certainly  miracles  are  proved  to  be  alto- 
gether extraordinary  and  exceptional  events,  the  more 
conclusively  does  their  occurrence  in  the  life  of  Christ 
prove  that  the  author  of  our  holy  religion  was  in  reality 
from  above,  and  divine  as  well  as  human.  We  cannot, 
therefore,  rejoice  that  the  evidence  from  miracles  is 
treated  with  indiiference  or  distrust  by  any  Christian 
teacher,  though  we  do  rejoice  that  the  evidence  from 
Christian  life  has  become  more  cogent  and  decisive  than 
it  once  was;  and  this  may  be  attributed  in  no  small  de- 
gree to  the  influence  of  a  century  of  missions. 

Notice,  fourthly,  that  in  respect  to  lieathen  nations  and 
religions  the  tone  of  our  theology  is  not  precisely  what  it 
was  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  difference  cannot,  indeed, 
be  weighed  or  measured,  outlined  or  defined,  but  it  may 
be  suggested  by  calling  it  briefly  a  change  of  tone.  The 
work  of  missions  among  the  heathen  has  penetrated  with- 
out violence  their  temples  and  shrines,  their  iiomes  and 
hearts,  and  has  made  us  comparatively  familiar  with 
their  knowledge  and  ignorance,  their  habits  and  preju- 
dices, their  traditions  and  fears.  We  have  begun  to  look 
upon  them  with  brotherly  kindness^  and  to  a^Dpreciate  in 


INFLUE^■CE   OF   A   CENTUKY   OF   ISflSSIONS.         199 

them  I  he  working  of  natural  aiFection  and  of  conscience, 
together  with  a  certain  blind  feeling  after  God.  They 
are  much  nearer  and  more  real  to  us  than  they  could  have 
been  to  our  forefathers  in  1792;  and  some  of  the  re- 
ligions which  they  cherish  are  seen  to  possess  a  modicum 
of  truth  in  connection  with  dangerous  error.  To  many 
of  them  "  the  heavens  declare  the  glory  of  God,  and  the 
expanse  proclaims  his  handiwork."  To  many  of  them 
"  that  which  may  be  known  of  God  "  by  his  works  "  is 
manifest";  "for  since  the  creation  of  the  world,  his  in- 
visible things  are  clearly  seen,  being  perceived  by  the 
things  that  are  made,  even  liis  eternal  power  and 
divinity."  A  careful  comparison  of  natural  religions 
with  one  another,  and  with  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus,  has 
given  us,  not  only  a  better  knowledge  of  those  religions, 
but  also  of  the  people  who  cherish  them,  and  indeed  of 
the  human  heart  itself;  and  the  result  is  more  charity, 
more  love,  more  desire  to  preach  the  gospel  to  all  man- 
kind, and  more  hope  that  in  the  end  "  a  great  multitude 
which  no  one  can  number,  out  of  every  nation  and  all 
tribes  and  peoples  and  tongues,"  will  receive  it. 

For  the  gospel  has  been  proved  to  be  "  the  power  of 
God  unto  salvation  to  every  one  that  believes,  to  the  Jew 
first,  and  also  to  the  Greek."  Before  our  eyes,  in  these 
latter  days,  it  has  been  found  a  spring  of  life  to  human 
souls  the  world  over,  and  we  may  now  say  without  fear 
that  whoever  can  be  delivered  from  the  bondage  of  sin  by 
any  conceivable  process  that  leaves  him  still  a  man,  can 
be  delivered  by  the  grace  and  truth  of  Christ.  This  fact 
is  represented  by  the  change  of  tone  in  Christian 
theology  when  it  speaks  of  heathen  nations.  And  the 
change  is  auspicious.     It  betokens  the  approach  of  a  bet- 


200  CENTEXARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

ter  age,  an  age  of  increased  faithfulness  on  the  part  of 
Christians  and  of  greater  success  in  their  work.  Many 
look  for  the  visible  return  of  Christ  to  inaugurate  and 
glorify  this  age ;  but  though  I  am  unable  to  share  their 
belief  on  this  point,  I  hope  for  his  presence  in  such 
power  and  grace  as  will  fill  all  true  hearts  with  joy  un- 
speakable. 


XVI. 

THE  ENRICHMENT  OF  CHRISTIANITY 
THROUGH  ITS  MISSIONS. 

REV.  FREDERICK  L.  ANDERSON, 
Pastor  Second  Baptist  Church,  Rochester,  N.  Y. 

Up  to  the  present  day  the  greatest  good  conferred  by 
foreio-n  missionary  work  on  onr  common  Christianity  has 
coni-isted  in  its  reflex  influence  npon  the  churches  in 
Europe  and  America.  Foreign  missions  have  quickened 
the  church's  zeal,  they  have  strengthened  its  faith,  en- 
larged its  hope,  widened  its  love,  and  deepened  its  life. 
But  from  this  larger  and  more  important  part  of  our 
subject,  we  turn  away  tins  evening  and  shall  attempt  to 
set  before  you  the  direct  enrichijient  of  Christianity 
throuuh  its  missions,  a  subject  smaller  and  less  important 
than  the  other,  if  the  past  only  is  to  be  considered. 

First  of  all  :  Foreign  missions  have  enriched  Chris- 
tianity with  men  and  money.  These  are  the  sinews  of 
war.  Men  may  sneer  at  numbers,  and  pick  flaws  in  our 
statistics,  but  the  sentiment  that  underlies  the  confidence 
in  numbers  and  _the  love  of  statistics,  is  both  scriptural 
and  sensible.  The  church  of  the  living  God  is  a  mighty 
army,  and,  if  the  spirit  is  right,  every  man  adds  just  so 
much  to  the  fighting  power  of  the  army.  Nay,  we  would 
even  venture  tlie  paradox  of  the  president  of  Colby, 
every  true  Christian,  snatched  from  the  devil,  counts  two 
rather  than  one  ;  in  fact,  the  increase  in  power  is  in  geo- 
metrical rather  than  in  arithmetical  progression.     This  is 

201 


-N 


202  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

the  very  spirit  of  the  gospel.  We  are  sent  to  catch  men, 
not  so  much  to  save  their  souls  as  to  turn  them  into 
soldiers.  \Ye  are  sent  to  disciple  all  nations,  not  so  much 
for  their  sake,  as  for  the  sake  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
Now,  our  contention  is  that  foreign  missions  have  added 
at  least  seven  hundred  and  fifty  regiments  to  the  Chris- 
tian army  of  conquest,  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand 
men,  who,  had  it  not  been  for  foreign  missions  would  have 
had  their  place  in  the  devil's  army,  rather  than  in  the 
ranks  of  King  Jesus.  Let  us  now  call  the  roll  of  these 
regiments  and  brigades,  the  crown  jewels  of  Immanuel : 
One  thousand  in  Central  America ;  one  thousand  in 
Greenland ;  one  thousand  in  Siam ;  two  thousand  in 
Persia ;  three  thousand  in  Egypt ;  thirteen  thousand  in 
Mexico ;  fourteen  thousand  in  South  America ;  fifteen 
thousand  in  Turkey  and  Syria ;  nineteen  thousand  among' 
the  aborigines  of  Australia  and  New  Zealand  ;  thirt}-  thou- 
sand in  Japan  ;  thirty-three  thousand  in  Malaysia ;  forty 
thousand  in  China  ;  fifty-six  thousand  in  Madagascar ; 
fifty-seven  thousand  in  Polynesia ;  seventy  thousand  in 
the  West  Indies;  one  hundred  and  one  thousand  in 
Africa ;  tv/o  hundred  and  twenty-two  thousand  in  India, 
besides  the  hundreds  of  thousands  rescued  to  a  pure  gospel 
from  the  corrupt  Lutheranism,  Romanism,  and  Greek 
Church  of  Europe. 

Like  Xerxes'  army,  the  divisions  of  this  host  differ  in 
features,  dress,  weapons,  and  speech,  but  unlike  his,  they 
all  have  one  spirit,  and  burn  with  a  loyalty  to  their  king, 
which  utterly  precludes  defeat. 

Notice  the  great  strategic  value  of  the  position  they 
occupy.  They  are  where  we  need  men  most,  at  the  front, 
where  the  enemy  is  strongest.     One  Christian  in  India  is 


THE    ENRICHMENT   OF    CHRISTIANITY.  203 

worth  a  hundred  in  America,  as  far  as  the  conversion  of 
India  is  concerned.  These  hosts  too,  are  largely  imbued 
with  the  missionary  spirit  of  the  Redeemer;  in  other 
words,  they  have  "the  fight"  in  them.  Whatever  may 
be  said  of  America,  there  are  no  anti-mission  Christians 
in  Asia  and  Africa.  They  have  canglit  the  evangelistic 
fervor  of  their  missionaries,  and  are  themselves  doing 
missionary  work.  Thirty-eight  thousand  native  preachers 
work  the  home,  that  is  the  heathen,  fields ;  but  this  does 
not  suffice.  These  converted  heathen  send  missionaries 
to  the  heathen  beyond.  The  missionary-receiving  coun- 
tries are  slowly  becoming  missionary-producing  countries. 
German,  Swedish,  and  Norwegian  Baptists  have  been  sent 
to  the  Cono;o,  and  to  the  millions  of  India  and  Japan. 
Tlie  Hottentots,  once  supposed  to  be  hardly  men,  now 
redeemed  and  purified,  not  only  send  their  own  preachers 
to  the  heathen  at  the  north  of  them,  but  even  pay  the 
salary  of  white  missionaries  to  the  same  peoples.  The 
Karens,  especially  of  Basseiu  and  Toungoo,  send  their 
brethren  to  preach  among  the  Kach'ins,  and  lo  the  wild 
tribes  of  the  eastern  border.  Polynesia  is  being  evangel- 
ized to-day  for  the  most  part  by  Hawaiian, — who  have 
one  hundred  and  one  stations  and  out-stations, — Samoan, 
Tahitian,  and  Fijian  Christians.  Thus  our  allies  are 
increasing,  leaving  us  free  for  work  in  other  fields,  slowly 
narrowing  the  territory  not  yet  evangelized,  and  bringing 
into  the  sight  of  faith  the  time  when  all  the  earth  shall 
know  the  Lord.  The  foreign  missionary  problem  will 
not  forever  increase  in  complexity  and  difficulty.  The 
work  will  grow  easier  by-and-by,  if  only  the  missionaries 
adopt  the  policy  of  making  every  convert  a  soldier.  With 
these  allies,  ever  growing  in  numbers  and  efficiency,  we 


204  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

sliall  some  day  get  over  the  top  of  the  hill  of  difficulty, 
and  view  the  valley  of  success.  But  just  now,  and  for 
the  next  hundred  years  perhaps,  w^e  are  at  a  very  steep 
place  in  the  road  |  we  must  all  get  out  and  put  our  shoul- 
ders to  the  wheels,  or  we  shall  never  pass  the  summit 
at  all. 

These  seven  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  converts  from 
heathenism  have  greatly  enriched  Christianity  with  their 
money.  Almost  every  one  of  them  comes  into  the  king- 
dom possessed  of  somethings  and  according  to  the  grace 
given  him,  this  is  laid  upon  the  altar.  To  be  sure,  not 
many  rich,  not  many  noble,  have  yet  been  brought  to 
Christ,  but  proportionally,  and  sometimes  actually,  the 
poor  give  more  than  the  rich.  This  money  laid  on  God's 
altar  leaves  us  of  America  free  to  put  our  money  else- 
where, and  so  the  kingdom  of  God  is  strengthened  and 
increased.  Every  self-supporting  station  is  a  milestone 
of  substantial  progress,  and  every  station  which  in  addi- 
tion contributes  to  foreign  work,  becomes  doubly  our  ally 
in  spreading  the  glad  news.  Statistics  on  this  point  are 
meagre  and  very  unreliable.  The  "  Encyclopedia  of  Mis- 
sions," for  ]  890,  places  the  total  of  native  contributions  for 
the  year  for  all  purposes  at  one  million  twenty-nine  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars.  The  "  Carey  Centenary  Vol- 
ume "  gives  the  American  contributions  for  foreign  missions 
for  last  year  as  four  million  five  hundred  and  fifty-one  thou- 
sand dollars,  and  the  native  contributions — under  Ameri- 
can auspices — for  all  purposes,  as  six  hundred  and  forty 
thousand  dollars,  an  increase  of  one  hundred  and  sixteen 
thousand  dollars  during  the  last  year.  In  our  own  Mis- 
sionary Union  the  figures  are  given :  total  home  contri- 
butions, four  hundred  and  seventy-two  thousand  dollars ; 


THE   ENRICHMENT   OF   CHRISTIANITV.  205 

native  contributions,  seventy-two  thousand  dollars,  or 
more  than  one-eighth  of  the  whole  sum  needed,  and 
almost  as  much  as  was  contributed  by  the  States  of  New 
York  and  Pennsylvania  for  the  foreign  field.  In  other 
words,  the  Christianity  of  foreign  lands  is  as  greatly  en- 
riched by  the  native  Baptists  of  those  lands  as. by  all  the 
Baptists  of  New  York  and  Pennsylvania.  And  as  far  as 
foreign  work  is  concerned,  on  its  financial  side  even,  our 
native  converts  are  worth  as  much  to  us  as  all  our  con- 
tributors in  our  two  largest  States.  It  is  to  be  understood 
too,  that  the  above  estimate  of  seventy-t^vo  thousand  dol- 
lars does  not  include  our  European  missions ;  this  would 
bring  it  up  to  two  hundred  and  twenty-four  thousand 
dollars.  In  addition  to  these  expenses  for  Christian 
work  on  their  own  fields,  these  missions  have  directly 
poured  into  our  Missionary  Union's  treasury  out  of  their 
great  poverty,  thirteen  thousand  four  hundred  dollars,  an 
amount  greater  than  the  combined  contributions  of  the 
States  of  Wyoming,  Montana,  Idaho,  AYashington, 
North  and  South  Dakota,  Oregon,  California,  Colorado, 
Nebraska,  and  Vermont,  or  to  come  nearer  home,  more 
than  half  as  much  as  the  State  of  Pennsylvania.  So 
much  for  men  and  money  in  the  past  and  present.  Who 
can  tell  what  limits  we  may  put  to  our  hopes  for  the 
future? 

2.  Let  us  now  consider  the  enrichment  of  Christian 
thought  and  expression  by  these  native  converts.  In  this 
particular,  the  past  and  present  seem  almost,  but  not 
wholly,  barren  of  results.  Our  face  is  toward  the  future, 
in  which  we  think  we  see  native  converts  laying  the 
treasures  of  Oriental  thought,  pathos,  and  devotion  at  the 
blaster's  feet.  Why  is  it  not  probable  that  theology, 
18 


206  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

philosophy,  hymnology,  and  devotional  literature  will 
receive  substantial  additions  from  the  Oriental  Christian 
mind  ? 

Dismiss,  dear  friends,  from  your  minds  that  literary 
bigotry  which  supposes  that  the  only  education  consists 
in  an  acquaintance  with  literature,  and  that  consequently 
uncivilized  and  unschooled  races  are  a  set  of  fools. 
Many  a  man  who  can  neither  read  nor  write,  has  a  better 
memory,  a  livelier  imagination,  sounder  reasoning  powers, 
and  more  sense  than  many  a  college  graduate.  It  is  ex- 
ceedingly doubtful  whether  William  tlie  Conqueror  could 
read,  and  most  of  the  barons,  who  wrested  the  Magna 
Charta  from  John,  could  not  write  their  names.  Ono  of 
the  shrewdest  and  most  successful  men  I  know  can  only 
with  the  greatest  difficulty  write  a  letter.  Uncivilized 
races  contain  their  proper  proportion  of  bright,  and  able 
men.  Indeed  we  have  Plato  and  Julius  Caesar  for  au- 
thority in  saying  that  book  learning  in  some  respects 
weakens  and  undermines  the  mental  powers.  The  degen- 
erate Romans  of  later  times  knew  how  to  read  and  write, 
but  the  German  barbarians  knew  how  to  conquer  and  be 
free.  There  have  been  more  "  wise  fools  "  than  James  the 
First.  More  than  one  man  has  been  able  to  speak  seven 
languages,  and  never  had  an  idea  in  one  of  them. 
After  all,  the  end  of  education  is  mental  discipline,  the 
power  of  analysis,  good  judgment,  a  retentive  memory, 
and  a  trained  imagination  ;  in  other  words,  it  is  the  power 
to  bring  things  to  pass.  For  such  a  result  the  discipline 
of  the  schools  seems  best  adapted ;  but  away  with  the  lit- 
erary snobbishness  which  thinks  it  can  be  attained  in  no 
other  way,  and  which  looks  down  with  contempt  on  the 
man  who  slips  in  spelling  or  grammar.    He  may  be  a  man 


THE   ENRICHMENT   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  207 

{jY  a'  that.  Mr.  Henry  Richards,  our  missionary  at  Banza 
Manteke,  on  the  Congo,  told  me  that  very  soon  after  his 
return  from  Africa  to  England,  he  was  asked  to  preach 
in  a  certain  Baptist  church.  Accepting  the  invitation, 
he  discoursed  on  the  flesh  and  the  spirit  from  the  eighth 
of  Romans.  He  noticed  the  congregation  somewhat 
wearied,  and  when  he  was  done,  the  old  deacon  said  to 
him  :  "  Well,  Brother  Richards,  that  was  a  good  dis- 
course, but  it  was  a  little  above  the  heads  of  our  people." 
"  Indeed,"  replied  Richards,  "  you  quite  surprise  me ; 
the  Congo  people  were  wonderfully  interested  in  that 
same  sermon,  when  I  preached  it  to  them  a  few  months 
since."  Open  the  world  of  the  book  and  the  pen  to 
such  people,  and  we  may  well  expect  the  best  results. 

But  all  heathen  are  not  rude  and  uncivilized.  The 
upper  classes  of  China,  India,  and  Japan  are  most  cour- 
teous, pleasant,  and  talented.  No  boor  should  ever  be 
sent  as  a  missionary  to  those  countries.  Dr.  Mabie  has 
done  an  invaluable  service  in  opening  our  eyes  to  the  real 
status  of  the  Oriental  world.  Yet  some  of  us  had  had 
hints  of  it  years  ago.  When  I  was  a  professor  in  the 
old  University  of  Chicago,  we  had  a  Chinaman  as  a  stu- 
dent. He  was  the  most  accomplished  gentleman  I  ever 
knew.  His  faultless  grace  of  manner  always  made  me 
feel  awkward  in  his  presence.  He  *s-as  a  talented  speaker. 
Whenever  it  was  announced  that  Long  Lann  Bo  was  to 
speak,  the  old  chapel  would  always  be  crowded.  He 
always  had  something  worth  the  saying.  My  father,  ten 
years  a  college  president,  says  that  Long  Bo  was  the  apt- 
est  student  he  ever  had  in  metaphysics.  Original,  keen, 
and  briojht,  all  his  coHeo;e-mates  acknowledsfed  him  their 
equal  or  superior.     When  men  like  Long  Bo  are  filled 


208  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

with  the  gospel,  China  will  have  Christian  preachers, 
philosophers,  and  statesmen  of  whom  she  need  not  be 
ashamed. 

And  is  not  the  Oriental  mind,  with  its  metaphysical 
and  poetic  trend,  to  add  much  to  our  Christian  inheri- 
tance ?  Are  not  these  nations  to  bring  their  intellectual 
riches  into  our  common  Zion  ?  Is  not  this  fresh  contin- 
gent to  strengthen,  broaden,  and  balance  our  Occidental 
theologies,  add  clearness  to  our  exegesis,  new  life  to  our 
devotion,  and  a  new  practicalness  to  our  work  for  Clirist? 
Millions  of  heathen,  for  instance,  are  devil  worshipers, 
and  have  been  for  generations.  Their  whole  lives  are 
dominated  by  this  idea,  ft  is  in  the  very  web  and  woof 
of  their  whole  thinking.  Now  convert  them,  and  it  wtll 
be  a  long  time  before  the  doctrine  of  a  personal  devil 
will  disappear  from  Christian  theology.  Fatalism  rules 
the  Mohammedan  and  Buddhist  worlds.  The  Orienial 
mind  seems  to  have  no  difficulties  in  accepting  election, 
predestination,  and  all  that  seems  to  be  involved  in  the 
sovereignty  of  God.  And  this  is  the  reason  why  Paul 
mixes  up  predestination  and  free-will  in  such  a  careless 
manner,  as  it  seems  to  us  sometimes.  He  was  an  Ori- 
ental, and  did  not  see  the  incongruity.  Now,  when  fatal- 
ism is  converted,  renewed,  and  purified,  will  not  the  five 
points  of  Calvinism  find. in  it  a  wonderful  prop  and  sup- 
]>ort  ?  Pantheism  is  rampant  in  India,  China,  and 
Japan.  Indeed,  the  great  majority  of  the  thinking  part 
of  the  race  have  always  been  pantheists.  And  when 
pantheism  is  converted  and  Christianized,  will  not  the 
unity  and  immanence  of  God  receive  a  wondrous  acces- 
sion of  strength.  May  there  not  from  this  Chri.<tianiza- 
tion  of  pantheism  come  forth  an  ethical,  a  Christian  mon- 


THE    ENRICHMENT    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  209 

ism,  perhaps  ;  a  something  very  unlike  the  pagan  mon- 
ism of  America  to-day,  but  a  something  which  is  floating 
in  the  air,  and  which  we  can  hardly  formulate  or  express  ? 
And  will  not  this  balance  the  bald  tritheism  so  common 
in  evangelical  circles,  and  the  almost  deistic  conception  of 
the  universe  now  so  prevalent  among  the  mass  of  our 
church-members  ? 

And  from  this  Oriental  world  I  look  for  the  influence 
which  will  establish  immersion  as  baptism  finally  and 
forever.  The  Oriental  mind  is  poetic.  The  language 
of  symbolism  is  its  native  tongue.  It  delights  in  emblem 
and  significant  ordinances.  The  reason  the  Anglo-Saxons, 
wilh  an  open  Bible  in  their  hand,  are  not  all  immersionists 
is  because  they  are  lacking  in  imagination.  They  are 
practical,  extremely  sensible,  fearfully  prosaic.  The 
Oriental,  on  the  contrary,  asks  the  immerser :  "  What 
does  this  rite  mean  ?  "  and  when  its  beautiful  imagery  of 
the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  of  the  believer  is 
set  forth,  the  Oriental  is  straightway  attracted  to  it. 
When  the  sprinkler,  asked  the  same  question,  can  give  no 
explanation  of  his  meaningless  ordinance,  the  Oriental 
turns  away.  So  we  see  that  though  the  Presbyterians 
spend  twice  as  much  money  as  our  Baptist  Board  in  for- 
eign lands,  they  have  not  a  third  as  many  converts.  And 
in  Burma  even  Pedobaptists  are  forced  to  immerse  their 
converts.  They  will  have  nothing  else.  In  fact,  the 
Bible  is  an  Oriental  book,  and  Christianity  is  an  Oriental 
religion,  and  when  it  gets  back  to  its  native  habitat  it 
will  be  reinterpreted  in  the  spirit  in  which  it  was  first 
promulgated,  and  be  enriched  by  elements  of  which  to 
some  extent  it  has  been  robbed. 

And  shall  we  not  expect  too  that  the  light-hearted, 


210  CENTEXAUY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

warm-hearted  Negro  race  will  add  a  needed  eleraent  of 
warmth  and  joy  to  the  final  Christianity,  and  the  China- 
man, strange  mixture  of  conservatism  and  enterprise,  a 
practical  and  ethical  element  which  will  give  a  solidity 
and  permanency  to  the  whole  kingdom? 

And  what  means  this  car  of  Juggernath  in  India? 
this  suttee?  these  fakii-s?  these  weary  pilgrimages?  thes6 
self-inflicted  tortures  ?  this  mother  casting  her  babe  into 
the  Ganges?  these  ten  thousand  gods?  Surely  might 
the  missionary  say  to  these  Indians  as  Paul  did  to  the 
Athenians :  "  I  perceive  that  in  all  things  ye  are  very 
religious."  Religion  dominates  the  whole  life.  Every 
day,  every  hour,  almost  every  act  has  some  relation  to  the 
man's  religion.  And  when  this  exceedingly  religious 
people  are  renewed  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  will  they  not  lay 
their  bodies  on  Jehovah's  altar  as  a  living  sacrifice?  Will 
they  not  gladly  suffer  all  prh'ations,  all  persecutions,  all 
wearinesses  for  him  who  loved  them  and  gave  himself  for 
them  ?  Will  not  the  money  lavished  on  sacrifices  and 
shrines  find  its  way  into  the  Lord's  treasury  ?  Will  not 
the  infants,  formerly  reserved  for  Lord  Ganges,  be  now 
willingly  dedicated  to  the  service  of  Lord  Jesus?  Will 
not  the  devotion  which  supports  ten  thousand  gods  sup- 
port one  with  at  least  equal  zeal  ?  I  cannot  but  believe 
that  converted  India  will  show  us  a  consecration  and 
fervor  beside  which  all  western  examples  of  self-surrender 
will  seem  cold  and  tame. 

And  this  earnest  love  for  Jesus  will  naturally  express 
itself  in  a  devotional  literature  with  a  sweetness  and 
tenderness  all  its  own.  The  mystic  trend  of  the  Indian 
mind  will  develop  the  holy  thought  of  our  oneness  with 
Christ  and  his  presence  with  us  as  never  before.    Hymns, 


THE    ENRICHi[E.\T    OF    CnPwISTIANITY.  211 

too,  will  flow  from  Hindu  and  Chinese  lips.     Already 
our  hyuinology  is  enriched  by  Krishna  Pal's — 

0  thou,  my  soul,  forget  no  more 
The  friend  who  all  thy  sorrows  bore, 
Let  every  idol  be  forgot. 
But,  oh  my  soul,  forget  him  not. 

And  Lakshmi  Goreh's — 

In  the  secret  of  his  presence  how  my  soul  delights  to  hide, 
Oh,  how  precious  are  the  lessons  which  I  learn  at  Jesus'  side. 
Earthly  cares  can  never  vex  me,  neither  trials  lay  me  low. 
For  when  Satan  comes  to  tempt  me,  to  the  secret  place  I  go. 

Nor  are  these  all.  Already  Polynesia,  Japan,  China, 
Burma,  the  Telugus,  and  Madaga;.car  have  their  native 
hymn  writers,  many  of  whose  productions  are  pronounced 
"most  excellent"  by  the  missionaries.  Christianity  is 
teaching  the  world  to  siu^.  Is  it  a  prophecy  of  the 
universal  song  of  praise  to  Him  who  sits  on  the  throne 
and  to  the  Lamb? 

3.  Up  to  the  present  time,  the  most  important  direct 
contribution  of  foreign  missions  to  our  religion  consists 
of  its  rich  store  of  Christian  experience.  What  the  world 
wants  to-day  is  not  theories,  arguments,  philosophies,  or 
even  theologies,  so  much  as  life  facts.  Christianity  in  the 
life  form  is  always  most  instructive,  convincing,  and 
inspiring.  The  test  of  Christianity  after  all  is  not  that 
it  is  logical,  or  that  it  makes  men  happy.  The  final 
question  is,  ''Does  it  actually  save  men?"  Is  it  the 
power  which  can  make  men  gentle,  strong,  and  pure? 
If  Christianity  can  do  this,  the  world  wants  it.  If  it 
cannot,  the  world  has  no  use  for  it,  and  the  world  is 
right.  The  great  battle  of  apologetics  is  to  be  fought  and 
won  not  so  much  in  the  study  and  in  the  pulpit,  as  in  the 


212  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

after-meeting,  the  inquiry  room,  and  the  Sunday-school. 
Not  by  wit,  not  by  pen,  but  "  by  my  Spirit,"  saith  the 
Lord  of  hosts.  This  "  everlasting  sign,  which  shall  not 
be  cut  off,"  this  exhibit  of  men  regenerated,  redeemed, 
and  purified,  has  often  been  the  strength  of  Christianity 
in  spite  of  its  defenders.  "  And  seeing  the  man  who  was 
healed  standing  with  them,  they  could  say  nothing  against 
it."  And  what  can  be  said  against  a  Christianity  which 
does  actually  cleanse  and  purify  a  world?  But  of  all 
the  departments  of  the  church's  working,  foreign  mis- 
sions supply  the  most  striking  and  convincing  proofs  of 
the  living  power  of  the  gospel. 

Notice  this  living  power  working  in  the  lives  of 
the  missionaries.  See  David  Nitschmann  and  Leonhard 
Dober,  as  with  scarcely  a  dollar  in  their  pocket,  they  sail 
for  St.  Thomas  in  1732,  constrained  by  the  law  of  Christ 
to  minister  to  the  degraded  slaves  of  the  island,  and  de- 
termined to  reach  them  with  the  gospel,  though  they  sold 
themselves  as  slaves  to  do  so. 

See  the  refined  and  sensitive  Judson  lying  in  the  midst 
of  the  filth  and  loathsomeness  of  the  death  prison  at  Ava, 
or  begging,  ah  me  !  a  little  nourishment  for  his  starving 
babe  from  the  native  mothers  of  Oung-pen-la,  pitied  in 
his  wretchedness  even  by  the  tiger-hearted  jailers.  And 
all  this  he  suffered  for  Jesus. 

See  Morrison  toiling  on  for  thirty  years  in  spite  of  a 
thousand  obstacles,  and  with  scarce  a  convert,  to  lay  broad 
and  deep  the  foundation  of  missions  in  China.  This  cer- 
tainly was  the  noblest  kind  of  courage — patience,  which 
is  courage  long  drawn  out.     And  all  for  Jesus'  sake. 

See  those  Moravians,  men  and  women,  living  and  dy- 
ing in  leper  hospitals,  and  all  for  Jesus'  sake. 


THE    EXmCHMKXT    OF    CHRISTIANITY.  213 

And  have  you  read  the  story  of  Captain  Allen  Ganl- 
ner,  of  the  Eoyal  Navy,  whose  love  for  Christ  and  ne- 
glected Soutli  America  would  not  allow  him  to  rest?  See 
him  at  last  on  the  storm-bound  coast  of  Terra  del  Fuego, 
repulsed  by  the  Fuegans,  whom  he  came  to  save  ;  his 
company  dying  one  by  one  from  starvation,  and  yet  never 
a  murmur  from  his  lips.  Read  the  last  two  entries  in 
his  journal,  Wednesday,  September  4  :  "■  There  is  now 
no  doubt  that  my  dear  fellow-laborer — the  last,  save  him- 
self— has  ceased  from  his  earthly  toils,  and  joined  the 
company  of  the  redeemed  in  the  presence  of  the  Lord, 
whom  he  served  so  faithfully.  Under  these  circumstances, 
it  was  a  merciful  providence  that  he  left  the  boat,  as  I 
am  too  Aveak  to  have  removed  the  body.  He  left  a  little 
peppermint  water  which  he  had  mixed,  and  it  has  been  a 
great  comfort  to  me  ;  but  there  was  no  other  to  drink. 
Fearing  that  I  might  suffer  from  thirst,  I  prayed  that 
the  Lord  would  strengthen  me  to  procure  some.  He 
graciously  answered  my  petition,  and  yesterday  I  was 
enabled  to  get  out  and  scoop  up  a  sufficient  supply  from 
some  that  trickled  down  at  the  stern  of  the  boat  by  means 
of  one  of  my  India-rubber  overshoes.  What  continued 
mercies  am  I  receiving  at  tlie  hands  of  my  Heavenly 
Father  !  Blessed  be  his  holy  name  ! "  Think  of  it, 
friends  ;  think  of  it !  Oh,  the  pathos  and  the  pity  of  it ! 
Thanking  God  for  a  little  dirty  water  in  an  old  overshoe ! 
And  all  this  for  Jesus'  sake. 

"  Friday,  September  5.  This  is  the  last.  Great  and 
marvelous  are  the  loving  kindnesses  of  my  gracious  God 
unto  me.  He  has  preserved  me  hitherto,  and  for  four 
days,  although  without  bodily  food,  without  any  feeling 
of  hunger  or  thirst." 


2 1  4  f  E^-TENARY   MISSIOXARY   A  DDEESSES. 

"  Here  is  the  patience  of  the  saints :  here  are  they  that 
keep  the  commandments  of  God  and  the  faith  of  Jesus 
Christ.  They  hunger  no  more,  neither  thirst  any  more,  for 
the  Lamb  which  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall  feed 
them." 

Such  life  and  facts  are,  however,  afforded  also  by  the 
native  converts.  Christianity  saves  not  only  tlie  Caucasian, 
but  the  Chinese,  the  African,  the  Polynesian,  and  the 
Fuegan.  Among  the  ten  thousand  instances  we  select  a 
single  one. 

Kowia  was  a  cannibal  chief  of  the  island  of  Tanna,  in 
the  New  Hebrides,  where  Dr.  Paton  first  labored.  Con- 
verted, he  lived  the  new  life  of  faith  in  Jesus,  and  was  a 
faithful  missionary  to  his  own  people.  Evil  white  men 
brought  the  measles  to  Tanna.  It  almost  swept  the  island 
of  its  inhabitants,  and  in  the  midst  of  all  Dr.  Paton  fell 
sick.  One  day  he  was  awakened  from  his  feverish  sleep 
by  Kowia,  wiio  whispered  to  him : 

^'Missi,  I  am  very  weak  ;  I  am  dying.  I  come  to  bid 
you  farewell  and  go  away  to  die.  I  am  nearing  death 
now,  and  I  will  soon  see  Jesus.  Missi,  since  you  became 
ill,  my  dear  wife  and  children  are  dead  and  buried.  Most 
of  our  Ancityumese  (Christians)  are  dead,  and  I  am  dying. 
If  I  remain  on  the  hill  and  die  here  at  the  mission  house, 
there  are  none  left  to  help  Abraham  to  carry  me  down  to 
the  grave  where  ray  wife  and  children  are  laid.  I  wish 
to  lie  beside  them  that  we  may  rise  together  in  the  Great 
Day,  wiien  Jesus  comes.  I  am  happy,  looking  unto 
Jesus  !  C)ne  thing  only  grieves  me  now  :  I  fear  God  is 
taking  us  all  away  from  Tanna,  and  will  leav^e  my  poor 
people  dark  and  benighted  as  before,  for  they  hate  Jesus 
and  the  w^orship  to  Jehovah.     Oh,  Missi,  pray  for  them, 


THE  ENRICHMENT   OF   CHRISTIANITY.  215 

and  pray  for  me  once  more  before  I  go  ! "  After  Dr. 
Paton  had  prayed  with  him  he  urged  him  to  remain,  but 
Kowia  replied  : 

"  Oh,  Missi,  you  do  not  know  how  near  to  death  I  am  ! 
I  am  just  going,  and  will  soon  be  with  Jesus,  and  see  my 
wife  and  children  now.  While  a  little  streno-th  is  left  I 
will  lean  on  Abraham's  arm  and  go  down  to  the  grave  of 
my  dear  ones  and  fall  asleep  there,  and  Abraham  will  dig 
a  quiet  bed  and  lay  me  beside  them.  Farewell,  Missi,  I 
am  very  near  death  now ;  we  will  meet  again  with  Jesus 
and  in  Jesus." 

"With  many  tears,"  says  Dr.  Paton,  "he  dragged 
himself  away ;  and  my  heart  strings  seemed  all  tied 
around  that  noble,  simple  soul,  and  felt  like  breaking  one 
by  one  as  he  left  me  there  on  ray  bed  of  fever  alone. 
Abraham  sustained  him,  tottering  to  the  place  of  graves; 
there  he  lay  down,  and  immediately  gave  up  the  ghost  and 
slept  in  Jesus.  What  think  ye  of  this,  ye  scoffers  at  mis- 
sions ?  What  think  ye  of  this,  ye  skeptics  as  to  the  reality 
of  conversion  ?  He  died  as  he  had  lived  since  Jesus  came 
into  his  heart;  without  a  fear  of  death,  with  an  ever- 
brightening  assurance  of  salvation  and  glory  through  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb  of  God,  that  blood  which  had  cleansed 
him  from  all  his  sins  and  had  delivered  him  from  their 
power." 

And  why  multiply  these  instances?  The  world  knows 
the  Christian  heroes  of  the  Imerina  persecutions  of  Mada- 
gascar, the  noble  martyr  deaths  of  Samoan  and  Fijian 
missionaries,  the  death  praises  of  tiie  boys  of  Uganda  as 
in  the  flames  they  sang  the  name  of  Jesus.  My  friends, 
tiieories  all  aside,  the  glorious  fact  remains,  Jesus  savks. 

Foreign  missions  have  not  only  furnished   life  facts 


216  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

enough  to  convince  any  candid  man  of  the  living  power 
of  our  religion,  but  they  have  mortgaged  the  world  for 
Jesus.  Some  one  may  say,  What  is  the  use?  Why 
throw  away  these  noble  lives?  See  your  missionaries 
returning  year  by  year  permanently  disabled.  See  the 
graves  which  dot  the  shores  of  the  Irawadi  and  the 
Congo.  Ah  !  my  friend,  those  graves  are  the  most  pre- 
cious of  Christianity's  treasures.  They  are  the  pledges 
of  victory.  From  the  ground  cry  the  voices  of  the  dead 
in  tones  which  forbid  retreat.  So  long  as  Anna  Hasel- 
tine  Judson  lies  buried  under  the  hopia  tree  at  Amherst, 
so  long  as  the  bones  of  her  great  husband  whiten  within 
sight  of  the  Burman  shore,  Burma  can  never  be  aban- 
doned by  American  Baptists.  So  long  as  the  grass  waves 
over  those  green  graves  on  the  Congo,  American  Baptists 
can  never  retreat  from  Africa.  Aye,  my  friends,  these 
are  the  holy  sepulchres  of  the  new  crusade,  which  will 
take  the  world  for  Jesus.  Still,  still,  the  blood  of  the 
martyrs  is  the  seed  of  the  church. 

"When  William  the  Conqueror  landed  on  the  beach  at 
Pevensey,  he  stumbled  and  fell.  All  cried  aloud  in 
dismay  at  what  seemed  to  them  an  omen  of  ill,  but  the 
great  conqueror  closed  his  hand  on  the  sand,  and  holding 
it  aloft  cried,  amid  the  cheers  of  the  host :  "  See,  I  have 
taken  seizin  of  my  kingdom  of  England.'"'  So  by  these 
seeming  omens  of  ill,  has  the  church  taken  seizin  of  the 
world  for  King  Immanuel. 

And  now  in  the  words  of  the  great  president,  as  Ave 
are  solemnly  gathered  in  the  presence  of  God,  "  let  us 
here  highly  resolve  that  these  dead  shall  not  have  died 
in  vain." 


XVII. 

THE  APOSTOLIC  AMBITION.^ 

REV.  A.  J.  GORDON,  D.  D., 

Pastor  Clarendon  S/reei  Baptist  Church,  Boston. 

Sometimes  a  train  of  tbouglit  is  suggested  by  a  very 
trivial  circumstance,  as  the  train  of  thought  Avas  which  I 
shall  pursue  this  evening  very  briefly.  My  son  came  to 
me  one  day  with  a  Greek  Testament,  and  asked  me  this 
question  :  ''  Is  it  right  for  a  Christian  to  be  ambitious?" 
I  said,  "  Yes,  I  think  so,  in  the  right  sense  of  the  word." 
Then  he  added  another  question  :  "  Is  it  right  for  a 
Christian  to  love  honor  and  praise?"  I  said  that  didn't 
seem  to  be  according  to  the  gospel.  He  said,  "  What 
does  this  word  mean,  philotimeomai  f "  "  That  means 
love  of  honor."  I  found  that  word  used  three  times  in 
the  Greek  Testament,  and  I  said,  "  Certainly  that  is  a 
good  suggestion,  to  see  it  exactly  as  it  means ;  not  as 
translated." 

The  first  instance  is  this.  The  Apostle  Paul  says : 
"So  have  I  been  ambitious  to  preach  the  gospel  w^here 
Christ  is  not  known,  else  I  should  build  upon  another 
man's  foundation."  He  speaks  there  of  being  ambitious 
to  do  it.  That  is  a  great  principle,  though  it  contains  a 
certain  kind  of  paradox.  If  you  Avere  to  have  a  lot  on 
which  to  build  a  house,  you  would  have  no  objection, 
other  tilings  being  right,  that  the  foundation  already  had 
been  put  in  so  that  you  would  have  nothing  to  do  but  to 
rear  the  superstructure.    "  No,"  says  the  apostle,  "gi%'e  me 

1  Printed  from  a  stenographic  report.. 
19  217 


218  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

a  field  where  there  hasn't  been  a  sod  turned,  a  turf  cut. 
I  want  to  begin  anew.  This  is  my  ambition."  Now,  I 
remember  when  I  graduated  from  tlie  theological  seminary, 
I  said,  "  I  want  to  make  the  most  of  life.  I  said,  cer- 
tainly it  is  best  to  build  on  an  old  foundation  where 
you  have  years  of  culture  and  spiritual  training  and 
nurture,  rather  than  to  go  to  a  new  field." 

But  the  whole  history  of  foreign  missions  proves  the 
opposite.  Do  you  think  it  was  a  mistake,  as  Judson's 
mother  and  sister  thought,  that  when  he  had  that  splendid 
opportunity  to  be  co-pastor  in  the  Park  Street  Church  of 
Boston,  and  he  said,  "  My  field  is  over  the  sea "  ;  and 
over  the  sea  he  went  ?  And  Park  Street  Church  numbers 
perhaps  eight  hundred  members  to-day,  while  the  churches 
which  have  been  gathered  as  the  fruit  of  his  labors  in 
Burma  number  thirty  thousand  members.  It  is  always 
safest  to  go  in  God's  way.  A  man  graduated  twenty 
years  ago  from  Princeton  College.  Alexander  Mackay 
said,  "  I  am  going  to  find  a  field  where  the  gospel  has 
never  been  heard."  He  went  to  Formosa  and  began  a 
work  there,  literally  a  repetition  of  the  work  of  the 
apostle  in  the  hardships  and  trials  and  bufPetings  and 
jDcrsecutions.  At  the  end  of  twelve  years  he  sat  down  to 
the  communion  table  one  day  with  twelve  hundred  and 
fifty  disciples  he  had  gathered  out  of  that  new  field.  Who 
of  us,  laboring  twenty  years,  thirty  years,  can  point  to  such 
a  result  as  that  ?  Built  out  of  absolutely  new  material, 
where  a  soul  never  had  been  brought  to  Christ  or  heard 
the  gospel.  I  just  sketch  this  to  show  that  it  pays,  in  this 
particular,  to  be  ambitious  exactly  as  the  Apostle  Paul 
was  ambitious  to  preach  the  gospel  where  Christ  has  never 
been  honored. 


THE   APOSTOLIC   AMBITION.  219 

The  second  suo-arestion  is  this.  Writing;  to  the  Tlies&a- 
lonians  he  exhorts  them  to  be  ambitious,  to  be  quiet,  and 
to  do  their  own  business.  I  think  that  is  a  wonderful 
suggestion.  That  is  my  point  exactly.  Brethren,  our 
great  business  is  giving  the  gospel  to  those  who  have 
never  heard  it.  It  is  not  our  second  business  or  our 
third.  It  is  our  first  business.  Everything  ought  to  be 
subordinate  to  that.  I  want  solemnly  to  ask  you,  as  a 
company  of  Christians,  does  it  appear  that  you,  does  it 
appear  tiiat  the  church  of  God,  does  it  appear  that  our 
great  brotherhood  is  making  the  work  of  its  foreign 
missions  its  first  business  ?  Look  at  it.  A  man  puts  his 
capital  in  his  business,  doesn't  he?  Not  simply  some 
small  per  cent,  of  interest.  Now  the  last  estimate  gives 
the  amoimt  of  money  in  the  hands  of  evangelical  Chris- 
tians in  the  United  States  to  be  eleven  billion  dollars. 
Perhaps  you  can  compute  that ;  I  can't.  What  do  you 
suppose  the  per  cent,  of  contributions  to  missions  of  that 
eleven  billion  dollars  is  by  American  evangelical  Chris- 
tians? It  is  computed  to  be  one  thirty-fourth  of  one  per 
cent.  How  many  of  you  would  succeed  in  business  if 
you  put  as  much  of  your  money  in  proportion  into  your 
business  as  that?  Take  another  fact.  Of  all  the  money 
given  for  Christian  purposes,  ninety-eight  per  cent,  stays 
at  home  and  two  per  cent,  goes  abroad  to  give  the  gospel 
to  the  heathen.  Does  that  look  like  business?  We  have 
only  to  act  as  Jesus  Christ  commanded  us  to  act  to  reach 
bright  results. 

I  have  sometimes  thought,  suppose  that  we  believed 
the  Bible  and  took  it  literally.  There  is  that  declaration, 
"  For  our  citizenship  is  in  heaven."  A  man  pays  taxes 
where  he  lives,  doesn't  he  ?     The  great  trouble  we  have 


220  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY    ADDRESSES. 

ill  Boston  is  that  people  move  out  into  the  suburbs  to 
avoid  their  taxes.  Suppose  you  join  those  two  ideas, 
pay  your  taxes  where  you  live,  and  your  citizenship  is  in 
heaven.  In  that  event  a  great  many  people  would 
probably  move  out  into  the  suburbs.  That  is  the  great 
complaint  in  the  city  of  Boston ;  I  don't  suppose  it  is  so 
in  the  city  of  Brooklyn  or  New  York.  Suppose  those 
Christians  who  have  tiiat  magnificent  honor,  who  are,  in 
no  figurative  sense,  but  literally,  the  sons  of  God,  and 
concerning  whom  that  wonderful  thing  is  said,  that  their 
citizenship  is  in  heaven  ;  suppose  I  say  that  they  only  did 
what  is  right,  and  paid  their  taxes  there.  But  just  the 
same  trouble  occurs;  a  vast  number  of  them  move  into 
the  suburbs  of  the  Avoild  somewhere,  and  the  church  of 
God  and  the  kingdom  of  Jesus  Christ  do  not  get  their 
taxes.     We  are  not  making  missions  our  first  business. 

Then  the  apostle  Paul  says :  "  I  am  ambitious  that 
whether  living  or  dying  I  may  be  approved  of  him." 
That  is  the  thing.  I  wish  we  could  all  act  upon  that 
principle.  Seek  for  nothing  so  much  as  simply  for  this, 
that  we  get  the  approval  of  our  Master.  A  friend  of 
mine,  not  long  since,  was  coming  into  the  station  to  take 
the  cars  to  a  distant  city.  It  was  a  frightfully  cold  night, 
and  they  all  had  their  overcoats  buttoned  up  to  the  chin  ; 
but  M'hen  they  came  to  the  gate  there  was  a  man  demand- 
ing that  every  man  should  show  his  ticket,  and  every 
man  had  to  undo  his  coat  two  or  three  thicknesses,  and 
they  were  all  very  angry  and  were  upbraiding  this  man. 
When  my  friend  came  along,  he  said  :  "  You  seem  to  be  a 
very  unpopular  man  this  evening."  He  answered :  "  I 
have  no  ambition  but  to  be  popular  with  one  man,  and 
that  is  tlie  superintendent."      Now,  that  is  exactly  what 


THE   APOSTOLIC  AMBITION.  221 

the  Apostle  Paul  meant,  I  suppose.  He  was  ambitious  to 
be  popular  with  one,  even  Jesus  Christ,  whether  he  lived 
or  died,  that  he  might  be  commended  of  him. 

This  is  just  a  sketch  of  what  was  suggested  to  me,  and 
now  I  want  very  briefly  to  sketch  what  we  have,  and 
what  we  ought  to  do  with  what  we  have. 

First  of  all,  we  have  this  immense  mind  of  man,  and 
we  have  in  connection  with  our  advanced  civilization,  the 
telegraph  and  the  railroad  and  all  that  is  covered  by  that 
phrase,  modern  civilization.  Dr.  Mabie  told  you  this 
morning  of  that  marvelous  fact  that  the  census  of  India, 
two  hundred  and  eighty  millions,  was  taken  in  a  single 
day,  less  than  twenty-four  hours.  I  never  read  it  with- 
out thinking,  that  if  the  government  of  Great  Britain  can 
take  the  census  of  India  within  twenty-four  hours,  how 
long  ought  it  to  take  to  give  the  gospel  to  all  those  in 
India?  It  is  perfectly  practicable  that  we  should  let 
every  man,  woman,  and  child  of  India  hear  the  story  of 
Jesus  Christ,  how  he  died  and  rose  again,  before  this 
century  closes.     That  would  be  business. 

What  else  have  we  ?  We  have  this  Bible  translated 
now  into  two  hundred  and  eighty  languages,  and  not 
only  that  but  remember  the  startling  fact,  that  by  these 
translations  nine-tenths  of  the  whole  human  race  can  be 
reached  with  the  Scriptures  in  their  own  tongue.  Think 
of  what  that  suggests.  I  don't  know  what  you  believe 
about  the  Bible  in  these  uncertain  times,  but  I  will  tell 
you  what  I  believe.  I  believe  that  not  only  was  it 
inspired  but  is  inspired.  I  believe  the  very  life  of  the 
.very  God  pulsates  in  its  every  sentence  and  its  very 
letters.  If  John  Milton  could  say  that  a  good  book  is 
the  life-blood  of  a  master  spirit,  how  much  more  can 


222  CENTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

we  say  that  this  Book  of  books  is  the  very  life-blood 
of  God. 

Now  the  story  of  what  the  Bible  has  done  in  heathen 
countries  is  simply  magnificent.  If  I  had  the  time  to 
recite  it  I  would  hardly  know  of  a  single  instance  where 
the  work  has  not  been  begun  through  some  direct,  deiinite 
application  of  a  single  text  or  a  few  texts  of  Scripture. 
Notice  for  a  moment  what  has  been  accomplished.  In 
the  year  1622,  you  remember  that  Christianity  had  been 
planted  in  Japan  and  had  a  vast  following  there  ;  but  in 
that  year  the  Jesuits,  having  plotted  to  get  political  influ- 
ence, allied  themselves  with  a  certain  political  party,  and 
were  stamped  out  in  the  most  remorsele&s  slaughter  perhaps 
that  was  ever  perpetrated.  In  America,  in  1622,  a  little 
band  of  pilgrims  landed  on  Plymouth  Rock.  Two  hun- 
dred years  passed.  A  man  born  in  sight  of  Plymouth 
Rock  is  one  day  in  command  of  a  ship  that  sails  into  the 
harbor  of  Yeddo.  He  takes  Japan  for  Christ,  and  there 
wasn't  a  cannon  fired,  there  wasn't  an  ounce  of  powder 
spent.  Commodore  Perry  simply  placed  the  Bible  on 
the  capstan  of  his  ship  and  in  a  loud  voice  read  the 
100th  Psalm,  and  Japan  was  opened  to  the  world. 
A  few  years  after,  some  ship  sailing  through  that  same 
bay  dropped  accidentally  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament. 
It  floated  ashore  and  was  picked  up  by  a  Japanese  gen- 
tleman ;  curious  enough  to  know  what  it  Avas  he  asked 
somebody,  and  they  told  him  that  he  could  find  a  transla- 
tion by  sending  to  China  ;  he  sent  and  read  all  the  transla- 
tion of  the  New  Testament.  He  read  the  story  of  Jesus 
Christ's  life  and  death  and  resurrection.  He  was  aston- 
ished and  went  to  a  missionary  and  said  :  "  I  desire  to 
believe  on  this  Man  of  whom  I  have  read."     That  was 


THE   APOSTOLIC   AAIBITION.  223 

the  beginning.  That  man  was  the  first  Protestant  con- 
vert ;  won  simply  by  reading  the  New  Testament. 

Go  to  Greenlantl.  Fifteen  years  later  a  missionary 
labored  without  a  convert,  believing  that  you  must  civil- 
ize a  people  before  attempting  to  regenerate  them.  After 
him  came  John  Beck.  Reading  one  day  these  words,  the 
story  of  Jesus  Clirist's  agony  in  the  garden  and  that  three- 
fold prayer,  "  If  it  be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass  from  me," 
that  simple  passage  of  Scripture  opened  the  heart  of 
Kajarnack,  the  first  convert. 

Pass  on  to  Labrador.  Eighteen  years  ago  the  mission- 
aries were  about  to  abandon  the  field,  when  one  day  the 
missionary  repeated  the  word,  "  The  Son  of  Man  is  come 
to  seek  and  to  save  that  which  is  lost,"  and  the  message 
reached  an  abandoned  woman.  As  she  listened,  a  strange 
fascination  came  over  her  soul,  and  then  she  Avent  that 
night  and  slept  in  a  dog-kennel.  She  said  :  "  I  feel  un- 
worthy to  associate  with  men  since  I  have  heard  about 
this  Man.  All  night  she  stayed  in  that  dog-kennel,  con- 
fessing her  sins,  pouring  out  her  tears  and  pleading  for 
pardon ;  she  came  out  next  morning  and  said  she  believed 
in  this  wonderful  Man.  And  after  eighteen  years  of  wait- 
ing, Labrador  had  its  door  opened  by  a  single  text  of 
Scripture.  That  woman  became  the  first  evangelist.  The 
missionaries  stayed,  and  her  word  was  the  word  of  fire ; 
until  within  a  month  there  w^asn't  a  place  bisr  enouo-h 
to  hold  the  converts  who  would  gather  to  hear  the  praise 
of  this  wonderful  Man  who  came  to  seek  and  to  save 
those  which  were  lost.  That  is  the  history  of  missions 
in  Labrador. 

The  Bible,  put  into  the  language  of  the  people,  gives 
God's  own  life  infused  in  the  language  of  the  Bible. 


224  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDIIESSES. 

The  Bible  brings  about  a  kind  of  re-incarnation,  entering 
into  the  hearts  of  men,  and  they  become  in  turn  the  temple 
of  God.  \Ye  have  a  wonder rul  resource  in  that  translated 
Bible. 

Then  we  have  not  only  that,  but  we  have  tlie  Holy 
Spirit.  Have  you  ever  thought  of  this  :  "  It  is  expedi- 
ent for  you  that  I  go  away  ;  for  if  I  go  not  away  the 
Comforter  will  not  come  unto  you ;  but  if  I  go  I  will 
send  him  unto  you."  How  is  it  that  we  can  have  any 
good  by  his  going  away  ?  When  he  was  here  in  the  body 
he  could  only  be  in  one  place  at  one  time ;  but  he  could 
be  in  all  places  at  all  times  in  the  form  of  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Not  simply  some  fraction  of  himself,  not  simply 
some  spiritual  fragment,  but  Jesus  Christ  is  in  company 
with  two  or  three  regenerated  persons  gathered  in  his 
name  in  all  the  individual  fullness  and  plenitude  of  his 
personality ;  not  a  part  of  Christ,  but  the  whole  Christ 
where  two  or  thiee  regenerated  and  worshiping  souls  are 
gathered  together.  Does  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity  defy 
our  matliematics?  What  do  you  think  of  this  doctrine? 
Mathematics  says  the  whole  is  equal  to  the  sum  of  all 
the  parts.  But  we  kcow  of  the  Spirit  that  every  part  is 
equal  to  the  whole.  Every  church,  every  true  body  of 
Jesus  Christ  has  just  as  much  of  Christ  as  every  other, 
and  each  has  the  whole  Christ :  "  Lo,  I  am  with  you  all 
the  days  even  unto  the  end"  ;  "Where  two  or  three  are 
gathered  in  my  name,  there  am  I." 

Now,  I  think  it  is  time  we  were  unusually  ambitious 
to  complete  this  work.  I  am  not  here  to  plead  for  money 
to-night.  I  am  not  here  to  make  anybody  give  to  the 
Missionary  Union.  I  am  just  here  to  say  a  word  to  you 
Christians  about  your  own  spiritual  life.    The  Missionary 


THE    APOSTOLIC    AMIUTION.  22-3 

Union  can  get  on  if  you  don't  give  what  you  can  give, 
but  the  question  is,  will  you  get  on  ? 

I  believe  that  the  word  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  "  Lay 
not  up  for  yourselves  treasures  upon  earth,  where  moth 
and  rust  doth  corrupt,  but  lay  up  for  yourselves  treasures 
in  heaven,"  that  that  word  is  just  as  binding  as  "Believe 
and  be  baptized."  We  have  separated  from  Christendom 
in  obedience  to  the  last  commandment,  "  Believe  and  be 
baptized."  I  suppose  if  we  should  stand  out  on  the  other 
we  should  be  counted  eccentric,  perhaps  looked  upon 
with  suspicion.  I  believe  Christ  meant  that  as  much  as 
the  other.  It  is  best  for  us  to  do  exactly  what  the  INIaster 
commanded.  I  heard  this  said  :  "  I  have  been  forty  years 
in  India.  You  think  missionaries  have  many  hardships. 
I  tell  you,  the  greatest  hardship  of  all  in  missionary  life 
is  the  parting  with  children,  sending  them  home,  being 
separated  from  them.  That  is  the  missionary's  greatest 
trial ;  but  I  want  to  say  that  in  forty  years'  experience 
I  have  never  known  a  missionary's  child  to  go  wrong." 
What  a  remarkable  statement !  These  men  have  obeyed 
the  Great  Commission,  and  God  has  kept  faith  with  them. 
I  have  been  nearly  twenty-five  years  pastor  of  one  church, 
in  a  position  where  I  have  had  an  opportunity  to  see.  I 
want  to  say  that,  with  two  or  three  exceptions,  I  have  never 
known  an  instance  where  men  have  waited,  and  laid  by, 
and  accumulated  a  great  fortune  to  pile  it  upon  the  heads 
of  their  children,  that  those  children  have  not,  with  one 
or  two  exceptions,  gone  wrong  and  been  ruined.  The  best 
way  to  save  your  money  is  to  give  it  to  Jesus  Christ  for 
the  work  of  preaching  the  gospel  among  the  heathen.  I 
icnow  of  no  security  for  it  anywhere  else.  I  know  of  no 
security  for  Christians  in  doing  anything  else. 


226  CEXTENARY    MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

Oh,  my  friends,  I  am  not  talking  about  the  Missionary 
Union  and  its  claims ;  I  am  talking  to  you  to-night.  Do 
you  know  that  money  is  the  greatest  peril,  if  misused ; 
that  it  may  be  the  greatest  power  if  rightly  used  ?  Do 
you  know  that  what  God  has  given  you  in  return  for 
honest  toil  may  be  multiplied  a  hundred-fold  if  you  will 
use  it  in  the  work  of  giving  the  gospel  to  those  who  never 
heard  it.  Therefore,  I  ask  if  we  are  making  preaching 
the  gospel  our  first  business  when  we  are  spending 
ninety-eight  per  cent,  at  home  and  two  per  cent,  abroad, 
when  multitudes  upon  multitudes  never  have  heard  of 
Jesus  Christ  ?  I  say,  if  we  mean  business,  let  us  sacrifice 
the  luxuries  of  our  home  work  for  the  advancement  of 
work  among  the  heathen. 

And  now  I  must  close  with  just  this  suggestion.  It  is 
a  most  solemn  time  in  which  we  are  living.  The  mag- 
nificent success  that  missions  are  making  should  lift  our 
heads  with  joy,  but  should  set  us  to  search  our  own  hearts. 
I  am  speaking  now  to  Christians  about  their  own  spiritual 
life.  An  English  pastor  has  written  a  book  of  pastoral 
reminiscences.  He  tells  this  story  :  "  I  saw  a  man  year 
after  year  gradually  cutting  off  his  contributions  to 
missions,  gradually  closing  his  hand.  I  became  anxious 
about  it.  I  didn't  know  how  far  it  had  gone.  I  knew 
he  was  prosperous.  I  knew  that  little  by  little  he  would 
shut  his  hand  until  at  last  he  gave  almost  nothing  to  mis- 
sions. One  day  I  was  called  suddenly  with  the  announce- 
ment that  he  was  dying.  I  hastened  to  his  bedside,  said 
a  few  comforting  words  to  him,  asked  him  if  his  hope  was 
in  Christ.  I  said,  now  I  am  going  to  pray ;  give  me  your 
hand,  I  like  to  take  hold  of  a  hand.  He  did  not  move 
his  hand.     I  repeated  it,  thinking  he  did  not  hear,  I  am 


THE   APOSTOLIC   AMBITION.  227 

going  to  pray,  I  want  to  take  you  by  the  hand.  No 
response.  I  knelt  by  his  bedside  and  commended  his 
soul  to  God.  In  a  few  moments  he  passed  away.  When 
they  turned  over  the  covering,  they  found  both  those 
hands  clasping  his  safe  key."  He  said  those  hands  were 
clasped  so  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  get  them  apart. 
"  I  knew  now,"  he  said,  "  why  he  couldn't  reach  out  his 
hand  to  me."  We  \vant  hands  reached  out  to  India, 
China,  Japan,  Africa  and  the  islands  of  the  sea.  Is  it 
possible  that  any  redeemed  disciple  of  Christ  has  so 
clasped  his  hands  that  he  cannot  reach  them  out?  When 
I  die  I  want  to  be  able  to  say,  "  Simply  to  thy  cross  I 
cling."  But  I  know  that  no  man  can  hold  two  Avorlds 
in  his  hand  at  once.  If  my  hands  are  clasped  on  my 
safe  key,  they  can't  clasp  the  cross. 

I  beg  you  to  be  serious  about  this  and  to  consider  that 
I  am  not  speaking  severely,  for  I  know  that  Jesus  Christ, 
who,  though  rich,  became  poor  that  we,  through  his  pov- 
erty, might  be  rich,  has  put  us  in  a  place  of  tremendous 
responsibility.  Responsibility  presses  upon  us  more  than 
the  atmosphere;  fifteen  hundred  pounds  to  the  square  inch, 
a  hundred  thousand  pounds  to  the  square  inch — a  tremen- 
dous pressure  upon  us.  Every  blessing,  every  particle  of 
our  resources  means  simply  added  responsibility.  My 
God  !  help  us  to  understand  it.  "And  the  Spirit  and  the 
bride  sav,  Come;"  I  read  those  words  this  mornino:  in 
my  room  as  I  rose,  and  pondered  them.  You  know  that 
commentators  say  now  that  probably  these  words,  the  first 
part  of  that  verse,  point  back  and  are  in  response  to  what 
Jesus  Christ,  the  risen  Lord,  has  just  said :  "  Surelv,  I 
come  quickly."  Then  comes  the  answer,  "  The  Spirit 
and  the  bride  say.  Come,  and   whosoever  will,  let  him 


228  CENTENARY   MISSIONARY   ADDRESSES. 

take  tlie  water  of  life."  Notice  what  an  admirable,  what 
a  beautiful  ideal  that  is  of  a  Christian  life.  With  eyes 
turned  toward  heaven,  with  hands  stretched  out  to  men, 
Avith  the  voice  growing  fairer  to  tlie  absent  pilgrim, 
"Come,  Lord  Jesus."  And  with  hands  stretched  out  to 
perishing  worlds,  saying  :  "  Whosoever  will,  let  him  take 
the  water  of  life." 

Do  you  know  what  the  best  prayer-book  is?  That 
(pointing  to  a  map  of  the  world)  is  the  best  prayer-book 
that  I  can  recommend.  Get  a  map  of  the  world  and 
spread  it  out  before  you  when  you  get  on  your  knees. 
And  what  about  the  praying?  You  are  not  simply  to 
pray  to  Jesus  Christ,  or  to  pray  through  Jesus  Christ, 
you  are  to  live  with  him.  To  me  this  is  a  most  Itlessed 
idea — I  am  simply  to  join  with  him  in  prayer.  When 
jSIoses  stood  ui)on  the  mountain  top,  and  the  two  stood 
on  either  side  to  stay  up  his  hands,  when  they  stayed  up 
his  hands,  the  battle  went  for  Israel ;  when  they  were 
dropped,  it  went  against  them.  Now,  Jesus  Christ  is 
tliere  on  tlie  mountain  top.  What  is  he  praying  for? 
He  is  looking  down  upon  the  map  of  the  world,  all  its 
dark  continents,  its  wretched  millions,  its  lost  inhabitants. 
He  sees  them  all  and  remembers  he  has  purchased  them 
with  his  own  life-blood.  He  is  pleading  night  and  day 
as  he  looks  down  upon  tlie  continents.  And  the  Spirit 
and  the  bride  are  to  hold  up  his  hands;  the  Holy  Spirit 
on  the  one  side  and  the  church  on  the  other,  making 
intercession  that  his  prayer  may  be  answered.  O  my 
God,  help  us  in  this  solemn  hour  to  take  upon  our  hearts 
a  lost  world,  and  resolve  for  the  future  that  missions  shall 
be  our  first  business. 


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